


Eight Days A Week

by rsadelle



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Age regression/De-Aging is general and non sexual, But it's really just a good ol' de-aging fic, M/M, No Underage Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 04:24:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18308132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rsadelle/pseuds/rsadelle
Summary: Louis turns into a three-year-old - literally. He's his normal self for anything they really need him to do, like shows and interviews, but the rest of the time he's a toddler. The week Harry spends taking care of him gives them a chance to be close again, and to figure out that they want to be even closer when Louis's back to his normal adult self.





	Eight Days A Week

**Author's Note:**

> The original idea for this story stems from [this Tumblr post about how Louis is a three-year-old](http://farawayfromlou.tumblr.com/post/134130072334/is-louis-an-adult-or-do-you-think-hes-an-actual), which made me want a story where he's literally a three-year-old. The title is from the Beatles song of the same name. The timeline is vague and unrelated to reality.
> 
> Thank you to the mods for running this challenge. Thank you to Lake for agreeing to my "I'll sign up if you do" deal. Thank you to Louis for naming the T-Rex as his favorite dinosaur and validating my narrative choices. And, of course, many, many thanks to [suddenclarityharry](http://suddenclarityharry.tumblr.com/) for the wonderfully adorable artwork that goes with this story.

**Thursday**

Harry's phone - his personal one, not the one he uses for band business - shows Jay's picture. He likes talking to Louis's mum almost as much as he likes talking to his own, and he hasn't gotten the chance in a while with the way things are now. "Hi Jay."

"Harry, love," Jay says without any preliminaries, "I need you to go to Louis's room. You'll need his extra key."

Harry grabs up his own key and heads out of his room. "Is he okay?"

Jay's quiet for a worrying moment. "He'll be fine. But he'll need some looking after for a bit." That's also worrying. If it's not one of Louis's pranks.

Harry knocks on Paul's door. "I'm getting his key from Paul."

"Alright," Jay says. "I'm going to hang up and talk to Louis until you get there." She hangs up just as Paul opens his door.

Harry holds up his phone. "Louis's mum called. She told me I need to get his key and look after him."

Paul eyes him suspiciously. "If this is one of your pranks."

"Not mine," Harry says. He bites his lip. "I'm worried about him."

Paul makes him wait in the corridor while he grabs Louis's key, and then leads him to Louis's door. He raps on the door. "Lou, we're coming in." He swipes Louis's keycard, and pushes the door open when the lock flashes green.

Harry follows Paul in. He has a lot of practice getting around Paul, so when Paul stops dead, Harry ducks around him. Then he stops dead too.

There's a little kid in Louis's room. He's sitting on the floor in the shirt Louis was wearing earlier, which is far too big for him, and he's holding Louis's phone, which is also too big for him.

"Harry!" The kid smiles, and Harry knows that smile. "Mummy, Harry's here. And Paul," he adds with a pout Harry also knows.

The phone's on speaker; Harry and Paul can clearly hear Jay say, "That's good, darling. They're going to look after you."

Harry feels a bit faint. Louis might somehow manage to prank them like this, but there's no way he would be able to get Jay in on it.

"Can I talk to Harry now?" Jay asks.

The kid - Louis, because it has to be Louis - toddles over to Harry and holds the phone up to him. "Mummy wants to talk to you."

Harry crouches down to take the phone from him, because if he can't resist little kids, he certainly can't resist Louis as a little kid. "Thanks, love."

Louis beams at him.

Harry ruffles his hair and stands up again. He takes the phone off speaker. "Hi again Jay. Paul's here too. I don't really understand." He tips the phone toward Paul so they can both listen in.

"He's done this before," Jay says. "He'll be fine for anything you really need him to do. He'll be himself for shows, if you just tell him the schedule ahead of time. But he's going to be three years old the rest of the time, and you'll have to look after him."

"I still don't understand," Harry says, because being in One Direction has led to a lot of strange things in his life, but this might be the strangest.

Jay sighs. "I'm not sure I do either, exactly. Just take care of him, alright?"

"Of course we will," Paul says, solid and steady even though Harry's sure he's thinking that this is not what he signed up for.

"Thank you," Jay says. "Can I talk to Louis again?"

While they've been talking to her, Louis has been doing his best to climb up on the bed that's nearly as tall as he is.

Harry takes the phone over to him. "Your mum wants to talk to you again."

"Hi Mummy."

Harry's close enough that he can hear Jay tell Louis, "Darling, Harry and Paul are going to look after you. Be good for them, alright?"

"Uh-huh," Louis says, which is an acknowledgement but not a promise.

Jay laughs and says, "I'm sure you'll be just as you always are. I love you, Boo Bear."

"Love you too Mummy!"

Louis pushes the button to hang up, then gives the phone to Harry and resumes his attempts to get himself onto the bed.

Paul already has his phone out and is typing away at it. "I'll deal with some logistics," he tells Harry, "like getting some clothes in his size. You tell the rest of the boys."

Harry thinks that leaves him with the harder job, but he takes out his phone and texts the boys to tell them to come to Louis's room. He also tells Liam to make sure he gets Zayn, who's probably already asleep.

Then he crouches down next to Louis, who has managed to pull half the bedding off the bed in his climbing attempts. "What are you going to do when you make it up there?"

Louis turns a wide-eyed look on him. "I just want to sit on it," he lies.

Harry knows it's a lie, because he knows Louis and he knows that look. "Uh-huh. You want some help?"

The stubborn pout is another look Harry knows well. If he'd had any doubt about whether or not this is Louis, it's gone now.

"I can do it myself."

"Okay." Harry steps back and gestures at the bed. "Go for it."

Louis eyes him as suspiciously as a three-year-old can and resumes his struggles to get onto the bed.

Harry leaves him to it when there's a knock at the door, and he peers through the peephole carefully before he opens the door to let the other boys in.

"What's going on?" Liam asks with a worried frown.

"I was a asleep," Zayn mumbles. He's mostly being held upright by Liam.

"It's Louis," Harry says. He steps aside so they can come all the way into the room.

While he was opening the door, Louis managed to pull all of the covers off the bed and used them to give himself enough of a boost to get onto the bed, where he is now jumping with abandon.

"Uh," Niall says. "Is this a prank?"

"No." Harry walks over and catches Louis mid-bounce. "You said you were just going to sit on it."

Louis gives him a shifty look, clearly calculating, before he says, "That was boring. Niall, tell Harry it's boring."

"Uh," Niall says again. He rubs his eyes. "What?"

Louis struggles against Harry's hold until Harry puts him down on the floor, where he starts climbing up the mountain of bedclothes to the bed.

Harry leaves him to it and joins the other boys across the room. Liam's frown has turned into deep confusion, and Zayn's blinking repeatedly.

"Jay called me," Harry explains, as much as this can be explained. "He's three."

"He can't just be three," Liam says.

"What about shows?" Zayn asks over the top of him.

"Jay said he'll be fine for them, and anything else we need him to do." Behind him, Harry can hear the unmistakable sound of bedsprings squeaking as a toddler jumps on them. "We just have to watch over him in the meantime."

Harry turns around, and joins the rest of the boys in watching Louis jump on the bed. He's reaching up with his arms and jumping as high as he can like he might be able to reach the ceiling.

"I'm never having kids," Niall says fervently.

"I guess he could stay with me." Liam doesn't sound entirely sure about that.

"He's not staying with me," Zayn says. "I'm going back to sleep."

"Jay called me," Harry says. "I can take care of him." He walks over to the bed and waits for Louis to bounce down onto the bed before he reaches for him. "Lou, you're going to stay with me. Unless you want to go with Liam."

Louis puts his arms around Harry's neck. "No, you." He looks over at the other boys. "But I still love you lots," he reassures Liam.

That's the first thing about the whole situation that brings a smile to Liam's face. "Love you too, Lou." He looks around the room, where Louis has of course already made a mess. "You want some help getting all his stuff?"

"Yes, please," Harry says. He looks at Louis. "If I put you down are you going to jump on the bed again?"

"No," Louis lies.

Harry laughs. "Right." He takes Louis over to Zayn. "Stay with Zayn for a couple of minutes." He widens his eyes at Zayn in a silent plea. "Five minutes," he promises, "and then you can go back to bed."

"Bed is boring," Louis declares. He tugs on Zayn's pajama bottoms. "I wanna see your ta'oos."

Zayn sits down on the floor and pulls his sleeves up. That keeps Louis occupied while Harry, Liam, and Niall pack up Louis's things.

Harry slings Louis's bag over his shoulder, tucks Louis's phone into his pocket with his, and takes a last look around to make sure they didn't miss anything. "Come on, Louis. Let's go sleep in my room."

"Okay," Louis says. He flings his arms around Zayn as best he can. "Love you."

Zayn smiles at him, like the sun coming out from behind a very tired cloud. "Love you too, bro."

Liam crouches down next to Louis. "How about me, buddy?"

"Silly," Louis says. "Love you too, obv'sly."

Liam ruffles his hair. "Love you too, Lou. Sleep tight." He stands up and joins Zayn closer to the door.

"Niall," Louis says, dragging out the second syllable.

"Louis," Niall says, doing the same thing.

Louis hugs Niall's legs and looks up at him. "Gotta say night-night."

Niall picks him up and swings him up over his head, which clearly delights Louis because he shrieks with laughter. He's really very darling as a three-year-old.

Niall brings him down and smacks a kiss on his cheek. "Night-night, Lou."

Louis hugs Niall around the neck. "Night-night."

Niall puts Louis down, and they all leave the room together. The other boys peel off for their own rooms, and Louis skips ahead of Harry and comes back a couple of times before they get to Harry's room.

Harry feels much better about that once they're in his room with the door closed and locked; he has no doubt that if they don't keep a close eye on Louis, he might very well run off and get lost, and Harry has no idea if he can turn himself back into an adult if he needs to.

He drops Louis's bag next to his. "Did you already brush your teeth?"

Louis pokes his tongue around his mouth, and decides, "Yeah."

Harry's not entirely sure that's the truth, but it probably won't hurt Louis to go one night without brushing his teeth. "Then it's bedtime. Paul's going to get you some clothes for tomorrow, but you'll have to sleep in your shirt tonight."

"'S okay," Louis says. "I like it. It's all soft."

Harry smiles down at him and rubs his shoulder. "You like soft things, huh?"

"Uh-huh." Louis yawns, much wider than it seems like he would be able to with how small he is. "But 'm not tired."

Harry has a lot of practice controlling his expressions; he doesn't laugh. "Okay," he says with a nod. "Well, I am, and I'm going to brush my teeth and put on my pajamas." He hopes he has something to wear as pajamas; he'd planned on being in a hotel room by himself and therefore able to get past the "no sleeping naked on the bus _Harry_ " rule that had been established on a four to one vote.

Luckily, there are pajama bottoms and a t-shirt in his bag, so he takes those into the bathroom with him and gets ready for bed as quickly as possible. He has no doubt that Louis can get in all sorts of mischief when left unsupervised for even a few minutes.

When he emerges, he finds that Louis has confined his mischief to pushing chairs together and haphazardly draping the coverlet from one of the beds over them.

"Are you going to sleep in a fort?" Harry asks.

"Noooo." Louis keeps trying to get the coverlet more evenly draped. "You don't sleep in this fort. You sleep in a bed."

"Silly me." Harry lets himself smile because Louis isn't looking at him so he doesn't have to pretend to take it seriously. He sends Louis to the bathroom to have a wee before bed, and goes in to help him wash his hands because the sink is too high for him to reach on his own.

"But I'm not tired," Louis says through a yawn when Harry tries to put him to bed.

"I am," Harry says. "So how about you lie down quietly for a bit so I can go to sleep?"

Louis pouts. "Only for a little bit."

He looks very small all alone in the bed when Harry tucks him in, and he stops Harry when he turns to go to his own bed.

"You have to give me a g'nigh' kiss."

Harry turns back with a smile. "I do?"

"Uh-huh. It's in the rules."

Harry bends over Louis, pushing back the fringe that covers his forehead. "Good night." He kisses Louis's cheek and unnecessarily smooths the blankets over him.

Harry leaves the bathroom light on and the door partway open so Louis won't be afraid if he wakes up in the dark.

He's just starting to drift off when a very small voice says, "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"This bed is really big." Louis's voice trembles.

Harry turns over to look at him. His eyes have adjusted enough in the dark that he can see how unhappy Louis looks. "Do you want to come over here and sleep with me?"

"Uh-huh."

Harry gets out of bed, takes the half step to Louis's bed, and picks him up. Louis's arms wrap around his neck, and this close Harry can tell that he's got tears in his eyes. Harry presses his lips to Louis's temple.

"Alright, love. I've got you." Harry settles them both into his bed. "Better?"

Louis nods his head, but doesn't let go.

Harry brushes his hair back. "Think you can sleep now?"

"Not tired." Louis's words are barely more than a mumble.

Harry keeps stroking his hair, and it only takes a minute or two before Louis's breathing evens out into sleep.

 

**Friday**

Harry wakes up to his work phone buzzing softly on the nightstand. It's too early, even earlier than he set his alarm. He silences his phone and makes sure Louis's still asleep before he reads the messages from Paul.

The first one is to all of them: _Liam and Niall are taking the radio interview this morning._

The second one is just to Harry: _Open your door. I've got clothes for L._

Harry carefully eases himself out of bed; the last thing he wants to do is wake Louis and have to spend the day with him as an exhausted toddler. He makes sure the blankets are still securely tucked around Louis and grabs his key before he goes to the door.

Harry steps out of the room and pulls the door shut behind him. "He's still sleeping," he explains to Paul. "I don't want to wake him up."

Paul nods. "Best if he's unconscious as long as possible."

If Harry didn't know Paul well, he wouldn't know he was joking. Mostly joking.

Paul hands over a couple of carrier bags. "Clothes, shoes, kid's toothbrush, all that kind of stuff."

Harry looks into the bags. There's a T-Rex soft toy on the top of one of them.

"You lot have all kinds of things for him to play with already," Paul says unapologetically, "but he'll need a cuddly toy too."

"Thanks," Harry says. "I'm sure he'll love it."

Paul nods an acceptance. "You're off the hook this morning, but we'll need both of you for soundcheck."

"I'll let him know." Harry yawns and blinks.

Paul claps him on the shoulder. "Get some sleep. Order room service. Be careful about letting him be seen."

"Yeah," Harry says. He salutes Paul with the bags and lets himself back into the room. He leaves the bags in the entryway and slides back into bed without waking Louis.

The second time Harry wakes up, it's because a toddler is poking chubby fingers into his cheek.

Harry turns his head and feigns biting at Louis's fingers before he's even got his eyes all the way open.

Louis giggles and pokes Harry's cheek again. "Wake up."

"Nope." Harry grabs Louis around the middle and tugs him into a cuddle. "It's still sleeping time."

"No," Louis says. He struggles against Harry's hold. "I'm hungry. I want mix up."

"All right," Harry says with a faked sigh. He lets go of Louis and sits up. "Paul got you some things. Do you want to pick something to wear while I call for room service?"

Louis jumps down from the bed. "No socks."

That doesn't seem like a battle worth fighting. "Whatever you want." Harry rubs his hands over his face, trying to wake up all the way. He can hear the crinkle of the carrier bags, and decides keeping Louis from making a mess is not a battle worth fighting either.

By the time Harry calls down for cereal, eggs, and fruit for breakfast, Louis has the T-Rex soft toy clutched under one arm and a collection of clothing in his arms.

Harry smiles at him and takes the clothes from him. "You found the T-Rex, huh?"

"Uh-huh." Louis holds up the T-Rex with both hands. "He's called Archie."

Harry reaches out and shakes the T-Rex's tiny arm. "Nice to meet you, Archie."

"T-Rex's don't shake hands," Louis says as scathingly as a three-year-old can.

Harry pretends to be surprised. "They don't? What do they do then?"

"They eat people." Louis makes a completely adorable roaring noise and advances on Harry with the T-Rex held out in front of him.

"Oh no!" Harry throws his arms out. "I don't want to get eaten." He turns and runs away, very slowly.

"It's gonna get you!" Louis makes another roaring noise and chases after him.

Harry runs around the hotel room with Louis and Archie the T-Rex chasing him until there's a knock at the door. He leaps across the beds, knowing that Louis has to go around, and looks through the peephole before Louis can catch up with him.

He holds up a hand to stop Louis. "It's our breakfast. Time for Archie to stop eating people so the people can eat."

Louis stops short and scrunches up his face, like he can't decide if he's unhappy about having to stop playing or excited about food.

Harry makes sure he stays out of the way while the room service waiter brings in a cart with their breakfast on it. The waiter unloads their food onto the table while Harry signs for it, leaving a large tip, and keeps one eye on Louis.

The waiter isn't even out the door before Louis starts asking questions. "Can I have mix up now? Can I eat on the bed? That's the best part about room service. Is there breakfast for Archie?"

Harry has enough experience with toddlers to know that Louis's likely to spill cereal and milk all over the sheets if he lets him eat on the bed. It's also a hotel room, they're rich enough to pay for any damage, and he's always had a hard time saying no to Louis.

"Only if you be careful."

Louis nods earnestly. "I will. Promise."

Harry reaches down to ruffle his hair. "Alright. Do you want to choose your mix up first?"

Louis climbs up on a chair to look at the selection of cereals the hotel sent up. He very seriously looks at the boxes. "That one, and that one, and that one," he says, pointing at three boxes in turn. He twists to look up at Harry. "What about Archie?"

Harry makes a show of lifting the covers off the plate with his eggs and the bowl of fruit. "This is all people food."

Louis eyes Harry's eggs speculatively. "C'n he have eggs?"

Harry puts the cover back and gasps. "That's my breakfast! You don't want me to be hungry, do you?"

"Course not," Louis says firmly. "But what about Archie?" He's still looking at the covered plate of eggs.

Harry suppresses his smile. "Maybe he can have a bite."

"'Kay." Louis climbs down from the chair, and Harry lifts him up onto the bed before pouring a small amount of each of Louis's chosen cereals into a bowl with a little milk.

"Careful," Harry cautions when he gives Louis the bowl and a spoon.

Louis carefully puts Archie down next to him and holds the bowl with both hands until he decides to put it on the bed and eat his cereal from there. It's probably for the best that Harry hasn't gotten him dressed in his new clothes yet.

Harry makes himself a cup of tea and brings that, his eggs, and the fruit over to the bed. He settles himself next to Louis to eat his breakfast.

"You said Archie could have some," Louis pipes up when he's halfway through his bowl of cereal.

"I did say that, didn't I?" Harry lifts a bit of egg on his fork. "How's this?"

Louis looks between the fork and Archie.

Harry takes pity on him. "Maybe you should try it first. Just in case Archie won't like it."

Louis nods seriously. "Yeah, I think so."

Harry takes another bite himself while he waits for Louis's verdict. "Well?"

"Dunno," Louis says. "Maybe I try it again." It's a wholly transparent and irresistable ploy to get more of Harry's eggs.

In the end, Louis eats half of Harry's eggs, spills the leftover milk out of his second bowl of cereal on the bed and himself - Harry's quick thinking saves Archie from sharing his fate - and puts up much less fuss about taking a bath than Harry expected.

Harry leaves Louis walking Archie menacingly across the sheets of the bed that hasn't been doused in milk and ducks into the bathroom for a quick shower. He remembered to take some clothes in with him, but he doesn't want to leave Louis alone for long, so he's still rubbing a towel over his hair when he comes out.

Louis is no longer on the bed. Harry looks around, and catches sight of a small bare foot poking out from under the messy coverlet fort still on one side of the room. Harry finishes rubbing the towel over his hair and tosses it onto the bed that suffered the cereal accident.

"Now," he says, "where did Louis go?"

There's a muffled giggle from the fort.

Harry turns around and peers exaggeratedly into the bathroom. "He's not in there." He crosses the room and opens the closet. "Not in here either."

There are more giggles.

Harry heads in that direction. "Where could he be?" He bypasses the fort and goes to the window, where he looks behind the curtains, then turns back to the room with his hands on his hips. "I've looked everywhere."

Louis bursts out from under the fort. "I'm right here!"

Harry gasps. "There you are!" He scoops Louis up and kisses his cheek. "You're a good hider."

Louis nods matter-of-factly. "I'm the best." He squirms for Harry to put him down, then reaches up and takes Harry's hand. "You can come in the fort."

He can't, actually, because it's a small fort and Harry is a tall man, but he can get most of himself into it with Louis and Archie if he sticks his feet out of it.

"We're having tea," Louis says. He's brought Harry's empty teacup into the fort, and he pours into it with an invisible teapot. "We have to share the cup." He tips the cup up to Archie's mouth, pretends to drink from it himself, and passes it to Harry.

"Thank you." Harry takes a drink of the pretend tea and gives the cup back.

Louis looks into the cup with a frown. "You make the best tea. I miss having tea with you."

Harry's heart hurts. "I miss that too." He holds out his arms. "You want a cuddle?"

Louis flings himself into Harry's arms. He drops the cup in the process but it doesn't break on the carpet. He's draped across Harry at an odd angle, his arms around whatever parts of Harry he landed on. Harry readjusts them to be a little more comfortable, and plucks Archie up from the other side of the fort to join them. Louis allows him to tuck Archie in with them, but doesn't let go of Harry to hold Archie instead.

Harry's gotten plenty a cuddle from Louis before, if not recently. This is both the same and different. He's smaller, of course, and his arms don't reach all the way around Harry. But it's still Louis. He's still one of the people Harry loves most in the world. He's still committed to it, all in on the cuddle as much as he can be with a toddler's shorter arms.

It lasts longer than Harry would have guessed before Louis's energy re-asserts itself and he slides down to the floor and takes Archie from Harry. "Can we go see Liam?"

"Maybe," Harry says. He crawls out of the fort to get his phone. "Why Liam?"

"I want to play footie." Louis looks up at Harry very seriously. "You can hold Archie."

"I can?" Harry says while he texts Liam. "What if I want to play footie too?"

"You're not good," Louis says blithely.

Harry barks out a laugh. "That's me told." He looks to his phone where Liam has texted him back. "Liam and Niall aren't back yet."

Louis pouts. "I want to play footie."

"They'll be back in a little bit," Harry says. "Do you want to play a game while we wait for them?"

Louis puts on the scheming look that's much more subtle when he's an adult. "On your phone?"

If he were an actual child, Harry would worry more about the screen time, but since he's not, Harry gives in and lets him have his personal phone to play whatever he wants. He does have to stop Louis from opening his texts and sending a keysmash to someone, but it otherwise keeps Louis occupied until Liam's text saying they're back interrupts him.

"Is that Liam?" Louis asks, peering at the text. "Are they here?"

Harry takes the phone from him to read it. "It is, and they are. You have to put on shoes to play footie."

"But no socks," Louis says.

"No socks," Harry agrees. By the time he ties Louis's shoes for him and puts on his own shoes, a couple of members of their security team are outside the door waiting to escort them downstairs.

Louis runs ahead to the lift, where he gleefully pushes the button. He pushes the one inside, too, looking up at Harry with a grin.

Security leads them not outside but into a ballroom downstairs, where Liam and Niall are already kicking a ball around.

Louis shoves Archie at Harry and runs into the middle of it. "Liam's on my team!"

"Are we playing with teams?" Liam asks.

"Yes," Louis says firmly. "You and me. Niall's on his own team."

"What about me?" Harry calls from the edge of the room where he's got Archie tucked under one arm.

"No," Louis yells back. "You're not good."

Liam looks torn between laughing and insisting Louis include everyone.

Harry waves at him to say it's okay and takes out his phone. He settles against the wall with his phone and Archie to alternately reply to texts and takes pictures of Louis's very determined footie playing. He doesn't quite have the coordination he does as an adult and only manages to connect with the ball every third or fourth try. Liam and Niall go easy on him, mostly Liam kicking him soft passes and Niall doing very basic defense.

Louis manages to kick the ball past Niall hard enough that it hits the wall, and he turns and runs over to Harry. "Harry, Harry, I got it past Niall!"

Harry holds out a hand for a high-five. "I saw! Way to go!"

Louis beams at him. "Keep watching." He runs back to where Liam and Niall have been trying to steal the ball from each other while they were waiting for Louis.

Harry does watch, in between texts. He's exchanging cat memes with Gemma when Zayn sits down next to him and tips his head onto Harry's shoulder.

"Hey," Harry says.

Zayn makes a mumbled noise. He has the hood of his hoodie pulled up over his head and his eyes mostly closed. "He having fun?"

"Yep. You know Lou, loves a kickabout."

"Mmhmm."

Harry shrugs his shoulder and jostles Zayn a bit. "You going back to sleep?"

Zayn rubs his hands over his face. "Maybe." He sits up, shoulder pressed to Harry's. "We having lunch soon?"

"Dunno." Harry takes out his other phone and texts Paul for a schedule update. When Paul texts him back, he tips his phone to show Zayn that it'll be a bit longer.

"Harry," Louis yells, "you're not watching!"

Harry puts that phone away. "I'm watching!" He keeps his eyes on the footie for a few minutes until Gemma texts him back, when he goes back to alternating between the game and his phone.

Zayn stands up after a bit, and Harry watches him because Zayn didn't seem like he was in the mood for a kickabout. He wasn't; he walks into the middle of it and gently tackles Louis to the floor.

"Zayn," Louis protests between his giggles. "You can't do that in footie!"

"I already did." Zayn starts to tickle him. "What are you going to do about it?"

Louis giggles and squirms. "Harry, Harry, come make Zayn play by the rules!"

Harry brings Archie over and crouches down next to them. He exchanges a smile with Zayn and joins in on tickling Louis until Louis is laughing so much that Harry's worried he'll stop being able to breathe.

Louis grabs at Archie when they stop, and lies on the floor panting and cuddling the T-Rex. Zayn and Harry lie down on either side of him, and Liam and Niall come to stand over them.

"Are we done playing footie, then?" Niall asks. He flops down on Harry's other side before waiting for an answer.

Liam frowns down at them. "You okay, Tommo?"

Louis beams at him and nods. "Uh-huh."

Liam grins back at him. "Alright. Just making sure." He glances over his shoulder. "Think it's about time for lunch if you're hungry."

Louis nods and sits up. "I'm hungry." He holds up Archie. "Archie's _really_ hungry."

"Archie is, huh?" Liam says with a badly suppressed smile. "I guess we'd better get him some food." He lifts Louis out from between the rest of them and swings him up into the air, much to Louis's delight.

"No, piggyback," Louis demands when Liam tries to put him down.

Liam settles Louis on his back, careful hands under Louis's thighs to hold him up, Louis's arms wrapped around his neck with Archie dangling from one of them. "You guys coming?"

Niall springs up. Harry sits up and pokes Zayn's shoulder. "Think Zayn went back to sleep."

"'M not asleep," Zayn protests, sounding half asleep.

Harry stands and holds out a hand to pull Zayn up.

"Go, go," Louis tells Liam. "Archie's hungry."

Liam laughs and takes off at a slow jog. Louis's laughter drifts back into the room even as they leave it.

Niall claps Harry on the back. "Don't look so worried. Liam would never drop him by accident."

Whoever arranged lunch knew what they were doing; in addition to food for adults, there are fish fingers with bread that Harry assembles into a sandwich at Louis's direction. Harry worries a bit about his nutrition, so he also puts a carrot stick and an apple slice on Louis's plate.

"Harry, I don't want that," Louis protests.

"Are you sure?" Harry asks. "They'll crunch like bones that T-Rexes eat." Harry has no idea if T-Rexes actually eat bones, but it seems likely, and he'll try it if it gets Louis to eat some fruit and veg.

Louis considers that for a moment, then shakes Archie with an adorable roaring noise and crunches down loudly on the carrot. Harry considers that a success.

Less of a success is trying to get Louis to take a nap after lunch.

"We're all going to take naps," Liam says reasonably. "We have to do soundcheck later, and then we have a show. You'll be very tired for the show if you don't take a nap."

"No," Louis says from where he's hidden under one of the tables. "I'm not tired. I won't ever be tired for a show."

Zayn has already, like the sleep-loving boy he is, taken off for his room for a nap, leaving Niall and Harry to watch Liam's attempts to get Louis out from under the table.

"Could just leave him be," Niall suggests. "It's dark enough under there with the tablecloth. He might just fall asleep."

Harry rubs his eyes. "Someone has to stay with him."

"Preston could stay."

It's not a terrible idea. Preston's hanging around, and it is his actual job to make sure Louis stays safe. Harry feels a little guilty even considering it, but he does need a nap, and he's not sure he's up for the effort it would take to get Louis to take one.

Once he secures Preston's agreement, Harry joins Liam in crouching down next to the table. Liam holds the tablecloth a little higher so Harry can see Louis under it.

"We're all going to take naps," Harry says. "Preston's going to stay with you until it's time for us to go to soundcheck."

Liam waves at Louis too. "See you for soundcheck." He lets the tablecloth drop over the table.

They're about halfway across the room when the tablecloth rustles violently and Louis runs over to crash into Harry's legs. "No, Harry, I don't want to stay with him."

Harry crouches down to his level. "You like Preston."

Louis crowds closer to Harry and looks across the room. "He's really big." Louis's lip trembles and he holds up his arms in the universal gesture of a child who wants to be picked up. "I want to come with you."

Harry picks him up and stands. "Okay, love. Of course you can come with me." He shrugs at Preston, who joins their caravan of boys and bodyguards.

Louis keeps his arms wrapped tight around Harry's neck, Archie held in one hand and bouncing against Harry's back with every step. Louis presses himself even closer when Preston follows him into the lift.

Harry rubs his back. "It's alright, love. You can always stay with me." It's something he means no matter what state he or Louis is in at the moment. Louis became one of the most important people in Harry's life the day they met. Things have been different between them for a while, but Louis's still one of the most important people in Harry's life, if not the most important, and he hates that Louis, even as a toddler with minimal reasoning skills, might doubt that.

By the time they get off the lift and peel off to their separate rooms, Louis is a heavy, sleepy weight in Harry's arms. At the door to their room, Harry throws an apologetic smile at Preston, who shrugs back unconcernedly and stays until the door closes behind them.

Louis clings tighter and mumbles something unintelligible when Harry tries to put him down, so Harry sits down on the edge of the bed and gets both their shoes off one-handed. He doesn't bother with the rest of their clothes, just climbs under the sheets and rearranges them enough that Louis's not going to choke him in his sleep and Archie is between them.

Harry kisses Louis's temple, and says, "Love you." Louis's breath has evened out into sleep already, but Harry wanted to say it and maybe the sentiment will work its way into Louis's subconscious.

 

 

**Saturday**

Harry doesn't know where he is when he wakes up. It's not his bunk or a hotel, and there's a heavy weight on him. It takes a few minutes to realize he's on the sofa in the lounge on Bus 1, and they're stopped. The heavy weight is Louis, full-sized and not the toddler he was when he finally fell asleep somewhere in the early morning hours.

Archie is squished between them, an uncomfortable pressure against Harry's chest. He shifts the toy so it's not pressing so painfully into him. Louis lets out a sleepy noise at the shift. Harry strokes his hair, down his back, just as he's done when Louis's been a toddler, the movement almost automatic now to calm him when they're having a cuddle.

It's uncomfortable, a bit, because Louis's a bit too heavy, sprawled across Harry with none of his weight on the sofa proper. Harry takes a minute to revel in it. He's _missed_ Louis, with a fierceness he didn't recognize until now in the quiet with Louis pressed close to him.

Close and naked, which is usually Harry's part of any equation. Louis's not going to be happy about that part when he wakes up, and he's got to be cold. Harry rubs his hands up and down Louis's back and doesn't bother telling himself it's only to keep him warm and not just to touch him.

They can't stay there for long; the entire reason Louis's an adult now is that they have interviews all day, and Jay was right when she said Louis would be himself for anything they needed him to do. As much as Harry loathes to wake him, the buzzing of his phone in his pocket is telling him they have to get up and get ready.

Harry brushes Louis's hair back. "Lou."

Louis makes another sleepy noise.

Harry kisses Louis's temple and rubs his shoulders briskly. "Time to wake up."

"Don't want to," Louis says. His eyes are still firmly closed, but he's speaking so clearly he's fully awake.

"I know, love." Harry kisses his temple again. "We have interviews. You need clothes." He lets one of his hands skim down farther and pinches Louis's bum.

Louis squawks a protest and rolls off of Harry.

It's hardly the first time Harry's seen him totally starkers. It hits him differently this time. There's no question Louis is an adult like this, tattoos and muscles and cock hanging heavy and soft between his legs. There's no question that Harry loves him. There is, perhaps, a question now about what that means for Harry.

"Wanker," Louis says.

Harry makes the only possible response to that: he curls his hand into a loose fist and jerks it up and down in the universal sign for wanking.

Louis snatches Archie up off of Harry's chest, covering the toy's eyes with one hand. "Harry, not in front of Archie."

Harry laughs and gets a returning grin out of Louis as he turns away toward his bunk.

Harry watches his bum as he goes, then allows himself approximately thirty seconds to lie there with his arm draped over his eyes, not knowing what to do with how he feels about Louis right now, before he gets up and leaves for Bus 2 to get ready for their interviews.

Louis keeps catching Harry's eye all through their interviews. It's like it used to be, when they were having their own secret conversations, telling their own little jokes inside the bigger conversation of the interview.

They're a tad more professional now, so Harry doesn't make it quite so obvious that he's angling for Louis's approval, Louis's laugh, Louis's reaction. He knows Louis sees it, though, because he gets it, the laugh, the approving nod, the attention.

Harry's always loved being the center of attention.

When they leave the first interview at a radio station, Louis elbows Niall out of the way and dives into the car after Harry.

Niall protests, "Oi, Tommo," as he follows them in and sits on the other side of Louis, leaving the middle row for Liam and Zayn.

Louis shrugs unrepentantly. He's pressed against Harry all down one side, and when they get away from the crowds, he puts his arm around Harry's shoulders.

In front of them, Liam is chattering about the tea at the station and how nice it was for their fans to come out and see them. Niall leans forward to comment on the donuts.

Harry slouches down and puts his head on Louis's shoulder, like he used to do when they were closer. He can feel it when Louis lets out a soft sigh, and then Louis starts to play with his hair. It's going to be a mess, but Harry doesn't care. He could stay like this forever. Maybe not _forever_ forever - he would miss performing - but it's something he wants more of.

"Don't fall asleep," Louis warns. "We still have more press to do."

"I know," Harry says. "If we didn't, I'd be taking care of you."

Louis's hand stops moving, then starts again when Harry makes a protesting noise.

"Do you mind?" Louis asks hesitantly.

"Course not," Harry answers promptly. He takes a breath and relaxes a little more onto Louis's shoulder. He'd like to ask more about Louis's turns as a toddler, but he knows from the other times they've tried when he's been an adult again that it'll only cause him to run away or distract them away from it.

"Love you," Harry adds.

Louis tugs on his hair, not hard enough to hurt. "Love you too."

The car ride isn't long enough, and Harry has to make himself pull away from Louis at the end of it.

Their show that night is electric. Nothing Harry has ever done has felt as good as performing, and tonight's show is one right after he's spent the whole day as close to Louis as they can be with the way things are, and closer than they have been in too long.

They're all feeling it, bouncing off of each other, singing together and living for the cheers of the crowd.

After the show, they tumble into the dressing room, all five of them jumping on each other and horsing around. Louis is the first one to peel off for the showers, after he's shot Liam with his water gun a few times, done a waltz around the room with Niall, stolen Zayn's shirt to do a lap of the room waving it in the air like a flag, and tugged on Harry's hair every time he passed him.

Harry is one of the last ones into the shower, and the one with the most hair to deal with. Everyone else is mostly dressed when he's done.

Louis is a toddler again, wearing pajamas made to look like a Power Ranger outfit and sprawled on the floor with paper, pens, and Zayn.

"He wouldn't put on anything other than pajamas," Liam tells Harry in an undertone.

Niall pops up on Harry's other side. "He drew me a picture." He holds up a piece of paper that has two extremely simple, shaky stick figures without arms and a bunch of scribbles.

"I asked him to draw me one with all of us," Liam says. "I don't know if he can count that high. It might take him a while to figure it out."

Harry laughs, quietly. "He'll probably get bored before that."

"He's very focused with Zayn," Liam says.

"I heard there's pizza somewhere," Niall says. "We could go liberate one while they're busy."

The three of them share a look, check to make sure Louis and Zayn are fully occupied, and slip out of the room behind one of their crew members.

There is pizza, and Harry provides a distraction while Niall and Liam select one to abscond with. No one would stop them, probably, but it's way more fun to take it and run back through the corridors to their dressing room.

They're laughing when they skid to a stop so Niall can punch in the code to the door, and both Louis and Zayn look up when they tumble through it.

Zayn raises his eyebrows, then a smile spreads across his face and he sits up.

Louis drops the pen he's holding and jumps up. "Harry!" He runs over to Harry, which is the best and most precious thing.

Harry scoops him up into his arms and peppers his face with kisses. "Louis! Do you want some pizza?"

"Yes!" Louis leans toward the box Liam is holding. Harry has to do a bit of quick maneuvering to keep from dropping him.

He decides it's better to get somewhere that'll cause less damage if Louis falls and sits down on the floor next to Zayn.

"I want pizza," Louis says, still reaching out toward Liam and the pizza box.

Liam brings the pizza over with Niall closely following behind. Zayn hastily moves the pens and paper so Liam can set down the box in the middle. Liam ceremoniously flips open the box.

They all dive for pieces, Harry helping Louis pull out a smaller one. It's the best piece of pizza Harry has ever eaten, which is admittedly probably the situation and not the pizza itself.

"Mushrooms," Louis says with a disgusted grimace. He pulls one of them off his slice and hands it to Harry, who takes it without thinking.

Harry pops the mushroom, and the other two that follow it, into his mouth with a shrug. He likes them just fine, and the grossed out face Louis makes at him is funny.

Harry, Liam, and Niall all throw guilty looks at Paul when he comes to get them and finds them stuffing their faces with stolen pizza. Louis doesn't seem to realize there's anything to feel guilty about, and Zayn is a master of keeping a neutral expression.

Paul just shakes his head and says, "At least you're all in one place. Ten minutes to bus call."

Louis takes a big bite of his pizza and says something completely unintelligible.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Harry says.

Louis makes a face at him and finishes chewing before he tries again. "C'n we have a slummer party?"

Harry's game; he looks at the others to gauge their interest.

"I'm in," Niall says with a grin.

"We haven't done that in a while," Liam says. "It's always fun."

Zayn is smiling at Louis with one of those soft, crinkly-eyed smiles that do nothing to hide how much he loves them. "Yeah. Our bus?"

Louis nods enthusiastically around his pizza.

It takes a little rearranging to get all of them riding on one bus, but they've done it before, so they know how it goes. They take the pizza with them.

Louis refuses to put on his shoes and demands a piggyback ride from Liam. Zayn brings the paper and pens. Harry makes sure they have the rest of Louis's things, and then double-checks that they have Archie. Louis's fallen so in love with the soft toy that Harry can't even bear to think about the distress it might cause him to lose it.

On the bus, Harry dumps all of Louis's things, except for Archie, in his bunk. Zayn's already raided the kitchen for snacks, Niall is presiding over the remains of the pizza, and Liam is dangling Louis upside down while he laughs uncontrollably.

Harry kicks his shoes off and slumps onto the sofa next to Zayn, where he has easy access to the snacks. Zayn offers him a fist bump before handing over a bag of crisps.

Liam swings Louis upright and passes him off to Niall, who easily holds him with one arm while eating pizza with the other.

Louis's laughter subsides into giggles, which turn into a grimace when Niall offers him the pizza. "Yucky mushrooms."

Niall bites off the mushroom and offers it again. This time Louis takes a bite, and then they take turns opening their mouths to show off their half-chewed pizza. Liam grabs a slice of pizza from the box and joins them.

Louis demands to be let down when he's bored of it, and comes over to Harry and Zayn. "Crisp," he demands, hand held out.

Harry raises his eyebrows. "Politely."

Louis pouts, and says, "Crisp, please."

Harry gives him a small one, which Louis holds very carefully, and then stuffs into his mouth, using his whole palm to do so. He holds up his arms while he's chewing, so Harry picks him up and settles him onto his lap.

Louis reaches out to Zayn, turning his arm so he can see more of Zayn's tattoos. "I want a ta'oo." He traces the ZAP. "C'n you draw one?" He holds out his arm next to Zayn's.

"If he has it when he turns back," Harry says to Zayn, "it's going to be hard to explain." Grown-up Louis's tattoos don't transfer, but toddler Louis hasn't done anything that's left a mark on him yet.

Zayn squeezes Louis's shoulder and gets up. He heads toward the bunks and comes back with a box he holds up. "Washable markers."

Harry nods at him and hitches Louis into a more comfortable position, one where Louis can let his arm rest on Harry's to help him stay still while Zayn draws on him.

Harry grabs for the bag of grapes mixed in with the other snacks before he has to stay still too. He alternates eating grapes and giving them to Louis - Louis will eat them right out of his hand without looking away from Zayn's drawing, and Harry might as well get some fruit into him while he can.

Louis manages to stay very still while Zayn sketches out the jagged edges of the bubble and the outline of the letters. By the time Zayn is finished coloring everything in, Louis's little body is trembling with energy.

"Careful," Zayn says when he's done, before he caps the pen. "It has to dry a bit."

Louis wriggles to the floor and runs across the small lounge, arm held out straight, to show off his "tattoo" to Liam and Niall.

Niall says, "Wicked," and high-fives him.

"That's awesome," Liam says. He picks Louis up by his middle. "Think you can fly with a comic tattoo?"

Louis stretches his arms and legs out straight and Liam flies him around the lounge, up through the bunks to the front of the bus and back.

"Harry, look," Louis calls when they come back. "I'm flying!"

Harry gives him a thumbs-up since he has a mouth full of grapes and is trying not to set a bad example. Louis has enough of those around. Including Harry sometimes.

"You need a place to land," Liam says. He looks to Harry.

Harry swallows the last of his grapes and holds out his arms. "Can you fly to me?"

"Liam," Louis demands, "there." He points at Harry.

Liam zooms Louis in to land against Harry.

Harry lets out an "Oof" at the smack of Louis's knees against his stomach. "Did you have a good flight?"

Louis nods and slumps his whole body against Harry, his arms around Harry's neck. "Yeah."

Harry wraps him up in a hug. "You tired?"

Louis says, "Noooo," without moving any more than to rub his face against Harry's chest with his headshake. He tips his head back to look up at Harry. "Slummer party, not bedtime."

Harry smiles at him, because how he can he not when one of his favorite people in the world is looking at him like that? "Not bedtime," he agrees.

Zayn reaches over and scritches at Louis's back. "You want to watch Finding Nemo?"

Louis turns his head to look at him with a blinding smile. "Just keep swimming."

Zayn's eyes crinkle up with his returning smile, and he gets up to find the remote.

"You like Finding Nemo?" Liam asks.

Louis nods emphatically. "Uh-huh. My sisters do too."

Liam's eyebrows stay raised. "I didn't know that."

Behind Louis, Zayn mimes taking a hit off a joint, which makes Niall collapse into laughter and Liam work very hard to not do the same.

Louis twists around. "Why are you laughing?"

Harry kisses the top of his head. "No reason, love." He makes a mental note to tell Louis about it when he's an adult again, because he'll find it hilarious.

As soon as the DVD menu music comes on, Louis lets go of Harry's neck and twists around in his lap to look at the screen. Harry straightens out the pajamas that got twisted in the process and loops one arm around Louis's stomach so he won't fall.

Louis is completely entranced by the movie, so much so that he doesn't seem to notice when Liam and Zayn start talking about comics or when Harry starts tossing grapes into Niall's mouth. Every once in a while, he turns around to make sure they're paying attention. Harry smiles at him to reassure him every time.

By the time the movie is over, Louis's blinking slowly, clearly struggling to stay awake.

Harry doesn't use the word bedtime, but he gets everyone else to kiss Louis goodnight, takes him to the bathroom for a wee, and then climbs into Louis's bunk with Louis held tight in his arms. He finds Archie and tucks him into Louis's arms.

"Hi Archie," Louis mumbles. He holds Archie close and goes heavy with sleep against Harry from one moment to the next.

Harry's heart feels so full of love he thinks it might burst.

 

**Sunday**

Harry is very glad they don't have anything they need to do first thing in the morning, because he's feeling crowded enough with three-year-old Louis sprawled out and pushing Harry to the edge of the bunk. It would be almost unbearable with Louis as an adult. Or maybe it would be great. It's a little too weird to think about it when Louis's a toddler, but Harry makes a note to think about it later, when he's alone. Maybe in the shower. If he gets a shower truly alone anytime soon.

 

The bus is stopped, which means they're at the venue, and it's quiet, which means everyone else is either asleep or off the bus. There's probably food somewhere. Real food, not the snacks they have on the bus.

Harry pulls out his phone and tries to keep the light of it away from Louis as he checks the time and his messages. There are pictures of the breakfast spread from Liam and Niall, both sent recently enough that it has to still be there. He's hungry, and Louis probably would be if he were awake. Harry could wake him up, or he could let him sleep as long as possible. Their sleep schedule is pretty permanently fucked, so it can't make that much difference either way.

"Lou," Harry murmurs. He rubs over Louis's back. "Time to get up."

Louis makes an absolutely adorable grumbly noise.

"There's breakfast," Harry adds in case that helps.

Louis snuggles closer to Harry. "C'n I have bacon?"

Really, Harry wants to give him everything he wants. "Sure, love. You gotta get up first, though."

Louis tips his head back to look up at Harry. "Archie needs you to carry him."

"Archie does, hmm?" Harry smiles at him. "How about you?"

"I guess that's okay," Louis allows, like that wasn't what he was angling for in the first place.

"Oh, you guess." Harry grins and smatters kisses across Louis and Archie's faces until Louis's fully awake and giggling with it.

Louis pouts when Harry makes them stop to wee and brush their teeth, waiting impatiently for Harry to take his turn, and then holds his arms up for Harry to pick him up again. It's not worth trying to insist Louis put on shoes or change out of his pajamas; Harry's going to carry him to breakfast, where he's likely to make a mess of himself, and Harry might as well save his effort for getting Louis to take a bath after that.

"Hey, mate," Liam says when they get to the room where there's a buffet and several tables set up. He holds out his arms. "Want to sit with us?" Niall's at his table, with some open chairs. Zayn's not there, probably still asleep.

Louis shakes his head and turns his face into Harry's shoulder. "Wanna stay with Harry."

Harry shrugs at them and shifts Louis so he can hold him on his hip with one arm. "There's bacon. What else do you want?"

"Just bacon," Louis says firmly.

"You're not eating just bacon," Harry says. He makes up a plate for Louis with some eggs and toast as well as the bacon. He takes Louis and the plate over to Liam and Niall's table. Someone's found them a booster seat for the chairs, so Harry puts Louis in that with his breakfast in front of him.

"Don't leave," Louis says with a pout, a rasher of bacon already grasped in one fist.

Harry kisses the top of his head. "I'm just getting some breakfast for me. Do you want something to drink?"

"Tea," Louis says firmly.

He's three; Harry isn't giving him tea. "Milky tea," he says, and heads for the buffet before Louis can try to argue.

He makes himself a slightly healthier plate than he gave Louis. He also makes one cup of tea, fills a second cup with milk, and tips a bit of his tea into the milk for Louis.

"It's not real tea," Louis says, peering into it doubtfully when Harry puts it in front of him.

"It's the tea you're getting," Harry says cheerfully. He takes the chair next to Louis and peels a banana.

Louis pouts a little more, ignoring Niall's attempt to jolly him out of it, and then suspiciously puts both hands around the cup and carefully lifts it to drink some of the milk. He's trying to still look stern, but Harry knows him as well as anyone, and he's not very good at pretending when he's three, so Harry can see the smile at the edges of his mouth and eyes.

Louis continues to drink his milk with a hint of tea while he eats everything Harry put on his plate and tells Niall all about the plot to Finding Nemo, as if Niall wasn't watching it with them last night.

"We've got interviews later," Liam says to Harry, frowning a bit at Louis.

Harry looks over at Louis and shrugs. "He's been fine for them so far. He should be good for them today." He grins. "If we can keep him from bringing Archie along."

Liam laughs and stops worrying. Or stops worrying out loud, at least, which is all Harry really needs.

True to Harry's predictions, Louis has greasy hands, jam smeared around his mouth, and milky tea spilled on his pajamas. "Shower time," Harry announces brightly.

Louis screws up his face. "Noooo, Harry. I want to play footie with Niall."

"You're going to need different clothes and some shoes," Harry points out. "Let's get you cleaned up and into a footie kit." He picks Louis up over his protests. "Liam and Niall will watch out for Archie."

Liam picks up the T-Rex and salutes them.

"Archie," Louis says mournfully.

"You'll get him back when you're clean." Harry gives it his best effort at no-nonsense briskness and carries Louis straight through to the showers.

Harry ends up dripping wet, but Louis's clean at the end of it, so he leaves Louis with Liam and Niall while he takes his own shower.

By the time he's done and goes searching for the rest of the boys, Louis has changed back to himself and is engaged in some sort of game with Liam and Niall that involves a football, yelling, and the entirety of the venue. Harry joins Zayn on the stage, where he's sitting cross-legged with his phone and a cup of coffee.

"What are they doing?"

Zayn shrugs and puts his phone down. "Dunno. Making fools of themselves."

Harry laughs and nudges Zayn's shoulder with his. "Like you don't want to be out there with them."

Zayn flashes him a grin, downs his coffee, and jumps off the stage.

Harry goes chasing after him and they get in the middle of whatever game the other three are playing.

"Hazza," Louis yells, half frustration and half delight. He leaps onto Harry's back.

Harry catches him under his knees so he won't fall. "What are we playing?"

Louis thumps his shoulder. "Don't worry about that. Just go that way." He points toward Liam.

Harry takes off toward Liam, continuing to chase him until Niall helps box him in, at which point Louis jumps down and ducks around Harry to intercept the football.

Harry never does figure out what game they're playing, but he joins them in it, getting in the way when it seems like a good idea, and running around in the flat parts of the venue when it doesn't.

They're all panting for breath and a little sweaty by the time Paul corrals them for their interviews, which gets them tsked at by Lou.

It's a rowdy set of interviews, with all of them talking over each other, and the interviewers being varying levels of charmed by them. They have lunch in the middle and soundcheck after, and then Paul reminds them about details like dinner and stage times.

Louis's a toddler again by the time Harry turns around. He clambers up onto the sofa where he apparently left Archie and jumps back down with the T-Rex clamped in his fist. He holds it out in front of him and heads toward Niall with as menacing a growl as a three-year-old can manage.

Niall obligingly pretends to be scared and lets Louis chase him around the room. Zayn gets a turn at being menaced by Archie, then Harry, and then Liam. When Louis switches back to Niall, leaving Liam to join Zayn in flopping down on the sofa, Harry says, "Louis, five minutes and then it's naptime."

Louis shouts, "No!" and returns to chasing Niall around the room.

Harry lets him be, hoping he'll forget the argument in the five minutes he spends chasing Niall around. When that five minutes is up, Harry stands and cheerfully says, "Okay, naptime for all of us."

Niall stops running, catching Louis just before he crashes into him dinosaur first. He yawns exaggeratedly. "A nap sounds good, doesn't it, Lou?"

Louis shakes his head. "No. No nap!"

"I want a nap," Zayn puts in.

"Me too," Liam agrees.

"Me three," Harry says with a grin. "See? We're all going to nap."

"No!" Louis stomps his foot. "I don't want to!"

"We have a show later," Harry says reasonably. "We need to be rested for that." He holds out his hand to Louis.

This time Louis's, "No," is more of a wail, loud enough to bring security into the room.

Harry crouches down to Louis's level. "Lou, it's naptime. We can have a cuddle too."

Louis wails, "No," again, and follows it up with, "I don't want to," and then starts crying as he continues to repeat himself.

Harry puts a hand down to balance himself because he feels like the force of Louis's unhappiness might tip him over if he doesn't. He knows what to do with Louis as an adult when he's unhappy, when to leave him alone, when he needs a cuddle, when the best thing to do is send Zayn to him. He doesn't know what to do with this version of Louis, who is so small and defenseless and unhappy.

"Louis," he says.

Louis lets out another, "No!" and turns away from Harry, tiny arms crossed over his chest to keep loudly protesting.

They've fought before, but it hasn't felt like this before. Maybe because Harry knew what to do to make it better. Maybe because he's the one Jay asked to be responsible for Louis. Maybe because they've spent so much time together over the last few days when they haven't in so long.

Harry throws a helpless look at Paul and Preston, and at the other boys while Louis continues on yelling and crying.

Liam steps forward, bends down, and picks up Louis.

"I don't want to," Louis wails. "No nap."

Liam ignores Louis's yelling, and his squirming and kicking, and just hangs onto him, one arm tight around him to keep from dropping him and the other hand rubbing up and down Louis's back.

Harry takes a shaky breath and stands up.

Paul and Preston have lost interest and left the room. Zayn and Niall are still there, both of them wide-eyed and worried.

After another excruciating minute, Louis's yelling quiets down to the occasional, "I don't want to," interspersed between gasping sobs. It's awful. Harry wants to be anywhere but here, and he wouldn't be anywhere but here with Louis.

The sobs slow down into softer crying, tears still rolling down Louis's cheeks. Liam just keeps rubbing his back and swaying side to side the way people do when they're holding fussy babies.

After a little while longer, where everyone relaxes a bit now that Louis isn't actively screaming, Louis stops crying and then seems to drop into sleep in an instant. His face is still red, and there are tear tracks down his cheeks.

Harry's throat is tight and he has to blink back his own tears.

"Fucking hell," Zayn mutters.

"He really lost it," Niall says.

Liam is the most unconcerned of them. "He just had some big feelings in a little body." He doesn't stop swaying side to side, holding Louis closely. "He's Louis. He'll be okay later. I can take him to nap with me if you want."

Harry doesn't, but Louis didn't want to nap with him, wasn't swayed by the promise of a cuddle. He nods. "Probably for the best."

Liam takes him at his word. Zayn nods and his fingers twitch like they do when he desperately wants a smoke.

Niall wraps his arms around Harry and rests his chin on Harry's shoulder. It's comforting enough that Harry gives in and lets a few of his tears fall while Liam takes Louis off to nap with him. He cries more when he gets to his bunk, eventually falling into a fitful sleep for his nap.

He doesn't see Louis again until they're getting ready for the show, and then there's always space between them from then until the end of the show.

Harry gets out of his post-show shower more tired than he feels like he should be. He gives his hair a brief rub with a towel, puts on boxers because he doesn't want to hear what the other boys will say if he wanders around naked, and collapses onto one of the couches.

Louis's a toddler, and someone, probably Liam or Zayn, has helped him into black pajamas with the Batman logo in bright yellow on the chest. He's playing with Archie on the floor, but as soon as Harry sits down, he comes over and mutely holds his arms up.

Harry leans forward and picks him up, because he could never refuse that request.

Louis leans his whole body against Harry's chest, the arm not clutching Archie around Harry's neck and his face smashed into it. "Are you mad cause I yelled?"

Harry's heart breaks and reforms itself around a core of love for Louis, for the Louis as an adult he misses being so close to and for the Louis as a toddler who sounds wavery and uncertain. Louis should never be so uncertain about how Harry feels about him.

"No," Harry assures him. He kisses the top of Louis's head. "No, love. I'm not mad." He pulls Louis into a closer cuddle. "I love you."

Louis lets out a sniffle and drops Archie in favor of putting his other arm around Harry's neck too and clinging. "You do?"

"Yes," Harry says. "Of course I do." He presses his cheek to the top of Louis's head. "You're Louis. How could I not love you?"

"Will you love me forever?" Louis asks in that wavery voice again.

"Yes," Harry says fiercely. He can't ever have Louis doubt that. "Forever and ever."

Louis tips his head up. "I love you the most." He puts his head back down into Harry's neck. "'S a secret," he says, so quiet and into Harry's skin that Harry's not sure if he heard him right. He's not sure he knows what Louis means by that.

Harry rests his cheek on the top of Louis's head again. They stay in the cuddle, a tiny oasis of quiet in the chaos of the room, until Paul pokes his head in to warn them it's five minutes to bus call.

Louis's been quiet, but he's not asleep, so Harry asks him, "Do you want to sit here with Archie for a minute?"

Louis tightens his arms around Harry's neck. "No."

Harry rubs his back to soothe him. "Just for a minute, love. I have to put on some clothes."

"Yeah, you do," Niall calls.

Louis giggles a little bit, which makes Harry feel better about standing up and putting Louis down.

Louis follows him to where his things are. As soon as Harry's pulled on a pair of joggers, Louis wraps his arm around Harry's legs and holds on while Harry pulls on a t-shirt. Harry sits on the floor to put on his socks and shoes, so Louis can lean against him while he does that, and then he pulls Louis onto his lap and lets him cuddle up while Harry stuffs his things back into his bag.

"I have Louis's stuff," Niall says.

"Thank you." Harry stands and picks Louis up at the same time, then bends for his bag and makes a stop at the sofa for Archie.

Security cleared them a path, so they get to the buses without anyone spotting them.

"My bus okay?" Harry asks Louis.

Louis nods. "Want to stay with you."

On a normal night, Harry would stay up a little longer, writing or talking with Niall or texting. Tonight, he decides that he's tired and Louis doesn't seem to want to do anything other than cuddle.

"No," Louis protests when Harry tries to put him down in his bunk.

"Yes," Harry says. "I don't want to squish you trying to get us both in here at once."

"You're coming?" Louis asks.

"Just as soon as I put you down and take off my shoes," Harry promises.

Louis loosens his grip and lets Harry put him down. He grabs onto Archie when Harry hands the soft toy in, and watches intently while Harry takes off his shoes. He lets out a little sigh and relaxes when Harry puts his shoes away and climbs into the bunk with him.

Harry tugs the curtain shut and lies down. Louis clambers over him until he's lying on Harry's chest, one arm across one of Harry's shoulders, the other holding Archie down against Harry.

Harry pulls a blanket up over them and rubs Louis's back. "It was a long day, huh?"

"Uh-huh." Louis rubs his forehead against Harry's shirt. "Tired. C'n you sing?"

Harry smiles. "Sure, love." He sings all the lullabies he knows until Louis falls asleep on him.

 

 

**Monday**

Harry wakes up to a stopped bus, toddler Batman pajamas pushed to the edge of the bunk, and a naked adult bandmate lying on top of him. Louis's head is tucked under his chin, and as heavy as he is, and as crowded as it is to have both of them in the bunk, Harry doesn't want to be anywhere but where he is.

Louis rubs his cheek against Harry's shoulder. "Do we have to get up?"

Harry grabs for his phone and turns it on to check the time and Paul's texts about the schedule. "Couple minutes."

"Good," Louis mumbles. "Don't want to move."

Harry shifts them a bit so they're more comfortable, and they end up with their legs slotted together. It's morning and they're young men; they're both half hard and the way they're lined up now, they can feel each other.

Louis's thigh is pressing against Harry's cock, and Harry really wants to arch into it. He loves Louis, he's always thought he was attractive, and he's not used to restraining himself when he has a naked person pressed against him in bed. But they're not like that, and Louis was a toddler when they went to sleep last night. It's very confusing.

Harry's phone goes off, and he can hear Niall's doing the same. He grabs for it; it's a warning from Paul that they need to be up.

Louis lets out a heavy sigh that sinks him into Harry a little more. Then he yanks the curtain open and rolls off of Harry and out of the bunk.

Harry keeps his eyes above the waist as Louis stretches.

Louis reaches back into the bunk for the bag of his things. He scatters them all over the top of Harry as he pulls them out, and then he turns a disapproving look at Harry. "I don't have anything to wear."

"You were a lot smaller when we went to bed," Harry says. He half sits up and pushes his bag at Louis.

Louis makes a face. "I'm not wearing your weird clothes for interviews all day."

Harry rolls his eyes and pulls out a t-shirt and a pair of joggers. "Not weird, and you only have to wear them to your bus." It's just like trying to negotiate with Louis as a three-year-old.

Louis makes a face at him, but pulls on Harry's clothes.

Harry avoids Louis's parting attempt at a nipple twist and grins as he listens to him laughing all the way off the bus.

Harry climbs out of his bunk and stretches out the remaining stiffness from his lungs. He doesn't have a lot of time, but he uses some of it to repack Louis's bag so it'll be easier to deal with later.

They're shuffled off to a radio interview first thing, and then they come back to the hotel for a whole day of interviews. They get split up for those, Harry and Niall in one room and Louis, Liam, and Zayn in the other.

Harry and Niall amuse themselves by betting on who can get away with giving the same, word-for-word answer to the most interviewers. It's a little unfair because their fans watch all of them, but they have to pass the time somehow.

The other three are done first, which means that by the time they regroup all together at the end of the day, Louis is a toddler again. Someone's put him in trackies and a hoodie, and convinced him to put on shoes. He's kicking a football at Liam, who appears to be acting as a goalie.

As an adult, Louis's pretty good at footie. As a toddler, he doesn't have the coordination for it, and half his kicks either send the ball wide or result in them not even reaching Liam. It doesn't seem to bother him; he keeps running for the ball and trying again and again.

He's absorbed enough that he doesn't notice Harry and Niall coming into the room until Niall lets out a whoop when Louis gets the ball past Liam.

Louis spins around to look at him, and then he sees Harry and runs over to him, beaming.

"Harry!" Louis wraps his arms around Harry's legs and tips his head up to look at him. "Hi!"

Harry ruffles his hair. "Hi. Did you have a good day?"

Louis shrugs. "I talked a lot 'cause Zayn doesn't like it so I was his superhero." He steps back and poses like Superman. "Liam's my sidekick."

Harry grins down at him, utterly charmed. "A superhero, huh?"

"Uh-huh." Louis steps forward again and tugs at Harry's shirt until he crouches down to Louis's level. "A secret," Louis says in what's probably supposed to be a whisper but isn't. "I missed you."

Harry's heart melts. He gathers Louis into his arms. "I missed you too," he whispers back.

Louis presses a sloppy kiss to Harry's cheek and then wriggles out of his arms. He takes Harry's hand and tugs him toward Liam. "You be goalie."

Harry swaps places with Liam. He can admit that footie is not his sport, but he's only up against a three-year-old since Louis has told Liam sternly, "You're my sidekick," and Liam is restraining himself to passing the ball to Louis and letting him attempt all the goals.

Louis throws his arms up and cheers every time he gets the ball past Harry. Harry hates losing, but seeing Louis so happy feels like winning.

Liam steps out of the game first, when he pulls his phone out of his pocket and stops the ball under his foot. "I have to go make a call." He claps Louis on the shoulder and gives the ball back to him.

Louis pouts after him for a moment. Zayn and Niall have already left for their rooms, leaving Harry and Louis alone with a pair of security guards.

"Come on," Harry says. He holds his hands out. "See if you can get it past me."

Louis holds onto the ball. "It's not fun with just you."

It should be funny, but given how much they haven't spent time together, just the two of them, recently, it stings.

Louis frowns, and then drops the ball to come over and hug Harry's legs. He mumbles something against Harry's thigh.

Harry rests a hand on Louis's head. "What was that, love?"

Louis turns his head just enough to be heard. "You're my favorite." Then he tips his head up. "C'n we build a fort?"

Harry blinks at the sudden swing. "We can build a fort." He glances around the mostly bare ballroom. "Let's go up to our room and build it there."

Louis flashes him a sunny smile and drops the football. He runs over to the pile of his things at the side of the room where he grabs up Archie and leaves the rest of it for Harry.

"You need to stay with us," Harry says when Louis tries to run ahead of them.

"I want to push the lift button," Louis says.

"You can," Harry promises, "but you have to stay with us until we get there."

Louis heaves a very put-upon sigh and stays with Harry and their bodyguards until they get within a few feet of the lifts, at which point he runs ahead and stretches up on his tippy-toes to hit the call button.

He beams when it lights up, and he's the first one to dash into the lift when the doors open.

Preston tells them their floor number, and Louis scrunches up his face looking at the buttons for the floors. Theirs is too high for him to reach, and Harry's not sure how well he can recognize the numbers as a toddler.

"Preston's going to help you," Harry says.

Louis whips around and pins him with a look of alarm. "No, you."

Harry gestures with his full hands. "I have all of our things. Preston can help you or he can push the button."

Louis suspiciously eyes Preston, then allows him to lift him up and show him which button to push. As soon as Preston puts him down, Louis rushes over to Harry and wraps his arms around Harry's legs.

Harry shifts the things he's holding so he can brush the back of his hand over Louis's hair.

When they reach their floor, Louis lets go and rushes out of the lift, then hesitates at the corridors branching out in either direction.

"This way," Preston says. He turns right.

Louis dashes off, headed down the corridor at what counts as a flat-out run for a three-year-old. They have eyes on him as long as he doesn't turn the corner, so Harry lets him go and follows Preston until he stops in front of a door.

"Lou," Harry calls. "This way."

Louis turns around and runs toward him. He's grinning, and he has Archie held tightly in one hand, and it's the best thing Harry's ever seen.

Harry grins back at him, and keeps grinning when Louis all but crashes into him.

Preston opens the door for them, and steps back to let them in.

Harry thanks him and puts down all the things he's been carrying while the door swings shut. He claps his hands together. "Let's build that fort."

Louis puts Archie down on top of their bags, carefully angling him so he's facing the rest of the room.

Harry lets Louis direct the fort building, while he does most of the work by virtue of being the one tall and strong enough to move furniture and drape coverlets and sheets over it. They end up with a full corner of the room turned into a fort with both chairs, one bed frame, the table, and the wardrobe serving as supports. Harry makes sure to build one of the table lamps into it so they'll have some light. Louis drags the pillows and blankets from both beds into it, then comes back and retrieves Archie to take in with him.

"We have to make it nice," he narrates to Archie as he moves around in the fort. "Has to be all soft and comfy." He hums to himself a bit, and Harry can hear the sounds of blankets and pillows moving around. "There. Lotsa pillows. Blankets so we'll be warm. 'Specially you 'cause dinosaurs aren't. See? Warm and cosy." He's quiet for a moment before he calls out, "Harry, come see!"

Harry lets off rummaging through their bags for what they'll need tonight and ducks into the fort. Louis's created a nest of pillows and blankets, and he's curled up in the middle of it with Archie. He looks cosy and infinitely pleased with himself.

"Wow," Harry says. "You made a really good fort in here. Can I come have a cuddle with you and Archie?"

Louis purses his lips. "C'n we have a cup of tea?"

Harry's still not giving him tea, but he'll try a half a cup of milk with a bit of tea and hope that Louis doesn't spill it everywhere. "Sure, love."

He listens to Louis chatter away to Archie while he makes the tea. Then he carefully balances his tea and Louis's milky tea while he pushes open the entrance to the fort. Louis makes room for him, and climbs into his lap once Harry's sitting in his nest of blankets and pillows.

Harry hands him the cup half full of milky tea and takes a sip of his own real tea. Louis sips his milky tea, smacks his lips together, and slumps trustingly against Harry's body with a sigh.

"You make the best tea."

Harry bends and kisses the top of Louis's head. "I'll make you tea anytime you want."

"Promise?"

"Promise promise," Harry says.

"Archie, you don't hafta worry," Louis says. "Harry's always gonna make us tea." He slurps at his milky tea, offers some to Archie, and continues on with telling Archie about tea. When he finishes his half cup of tea, he sets it down unsteadily on the blankets - Harry catches it before it can tip over and spill the last dregs everywhere - and turns around in Harry's lap, kneeling up on his thighs to look at him. "Archie wants to read 'bout Batman."

"He does?" Harry hooks one arm around Louis's back so he doesn't fall. "I don't know if we have any Batman books."

"Zayn does," Louis says, like he thinks he's being sneaky about it and it isn't an obvious ploy to get Zayn to bring over some comics.

"Oh, Zayn does." Harry can't quite keep his grin off his face. He finds a place to put his tea cup down where it probably won't spill and takes out his phone. He snaps a photo of Louis's face right up against his and texts it to Zayn with their room number and a note that someone is requesting his presence with Batman.

Zayn doesn't text back, despite Louis looking at Harry's phone every two seconds, but a few minutes later there's a knock at the door of their room that causes Louis to rush out of the fort and run to the door.

Harry scoops up the tea cups and follows him. He leans over Louis, who's bouncing up and down in front of the door, to look out and make sure it's Zayn before he opens it. Zayn's in joggers and a long-sleeve t-shirt and has a couple of slightly beat-up Batman books with him.

Louis rushes toward him as soon as the door is open and grabs his free hand. "We made a fort!" He drags Zayn into the fort.

"Nice," Zayn says. "Cosier than the Batcave."

Louis giggles, and points out all the features of the fort to Zayn before he gets serious about reading the comics Zayn brought with him.

Harry joins them after a bit, digging out the book he's been trying to read all tour and taking it into the fort. Louis and Archie are cuddled up in Zayn's lap while he reads the words and lets Louis point out all the interesting things in the drawings.

Harry doesn't get very far in his book because he keeps getting distracted by watching Louis and Zayn. Louis keeps rushing ahead to point out what's happening, and then asking, "What's he saying?"

Zayn reads the words to him with his finger running along the book. Harry has no idea if it's doing any good - Louis already knows how to read when he's an adult - but it's adorable and Louis follows along closely.

When they get to the end of that particular story, Louis claps, and then says, "I'm hungry. Did you bring snacks?"

Zayn shakes his head. "I didn't. Harry?"

Harry closes his book. "No snacks, but we could order room service."

Louis nearly tips off of Zayn's lap in his excitement. "I want a burger! And chips. C'n I have chips?"

"Yes," Harry says, because why not? It's not as if Louis would normally eat anything else.

Louis gives him that sly, calculating look that's so much more obvious when he's a toddler. "C'n we eat in the fort?"

Behind him, Zayn's smile takes over his whole face.

"Yes, we can eat in the fort." Harry leans forward to ruffle Louis's hair. He gets Zayn's order and leaves the fort to order from the hotel phone.

Zayn and Louis read the beginning of another Batman story while they wait for their food. When it arrives, Harry helps Louis wash his hands while Zayn gets the trays of food into the fort.

Zayn has Louis's dinner on a tray flat on the ground. "Careful," he says when Louis all but rushes back into the fort. "Chips're good for eating, but you don't want to sleep in them."

Louis cackles with laughter. "I'm not gonna sleep in them!"

"You might if you spill them everywhere," Zayn says.

"I won't spill!" Louis eats his burger and chips carefully over the tray. Every few chips he stops to offer one to Archie, and sometimes makes T-Rex growling noises while he eats it in Archie's stead. He eats a lot for a three-year-old, but if Harry thinks about it, it sort of makes sense since his adult body will need it.

Louis pouts when Harry tells him after dinner that he has to get clean and change into his pajamas - he's dripped ketchup all down his hoodie and his hands are sticky - but he goes when Zayn says, "We'll read more Batman after."

Louis yells, "Zayn, don't leave," after Harry gets him cleaned up and before he gets him into pajamas.

"I won't," Zayn calls back. It sounds like he's still in the fort, and like he's smiling.

Louis barely waits for Harry to tug the shirt down over his head before he's running around the beds to all but dive into the fort.

Harry changes into pajama bottoms and a worn soft t-shirt, puts the room service trays Zayn moved out of the fort outside the door, and then joins Louis and Zayn in the fort.

They're lying down this time, on their backs under a blanket. Louis has Archie tucked under one arm and Zayn's holding the book up above them while they read. Louis's still excited about it, but his voice drops off as they get farther into it, his eyes blinking more and more slowly. He cuddles against Zayn, no longer pointing things out, just listening.

Zayn stops reading when Louis's close enough to sleep not to protest. He brushes a hand over Louis's hair until Louis's breath has dropped into the evenness of sleep. Zayn manages to get out of the tangle of blankets without waking Louis, and Harry walks him to the door to lock it behind him.

Louis looks comfortable and Harry doesn't want to risk waking him, or letting him wake up alone in the middle of the night, so as much as he doesn't relish the thought of spending the night on the floor, he resigns himself to sleeping in the fort.

"The things I do for you," he mutters to a sleeping Louis. He follows it up with a smile at the heedless, easy way Louis is spread out and asleep. He'd do a lot more to make Louis feel warm and safe.

 

**Tuesday**

Harry wakes up with a toddler draped half over his chest. The way Louis is twisted to lie partly on him while still holding Archie looks like it can't possibly be comfortable, but Louis's sound asleep and doesn't seem bothered. Harry can't say the same for his back. He really needs to stretch, but there's a toddler asleep on him, and he wants Louis to sleep as long as he can. No one wants a cranky, tired toddler around.

He can't quite reach the lamp without dislodging Louis, so he gives up on trying to read his book and grabs his phone instead. He dials down the brightness and holds it up where it's above Louis's head so he can check his texts without waking Louis.

Louis wakes up slowly, shifting a bit, bring his hand up to rub at his eyes. "Harry?"

Harry rubs Louis's back. "Right here, love."

Louis snuggles closer, then lifts his head to look around them. A smile lights up his face. "We slept in the fort!"

"We did."

Louis laughs and kneels up so he can move up enough to press a messy kiss to Harry's cheek when he flops down onto him again. "Harry, you're the bestest best!"

It's one of those moments that fills Harry so full of love he's not sure his body can contain it.

He wraps his arms around Louis. "I think _you're_ the bestest best." He kisses Louis's cheek, his temple, his forehead, until Louis's giggling with it and pushing at Harry's chest.

"Harry, Harry, I have to wee."

Harry immediately lets him up and shoos him out of the fort to the loo. He takes the opportunity to stretch out his muscles that aren't happy with him for sleeping on the floor, and to check in with Paul to find out if there's breakfast somewhere or if they're on their own.

Paul texts him right back, so while he's helping Louis wash his hands, Harry asks him, "Do you want to go have breakfast with everyone else?"

"Uh-huh." Louis splashes at the water and giggles when it splatters across the counter.

Harry swings him away and puts him down where he can't reach it.

"I want bacon and coffee," Louis says.

"You can have bacon," Harry says. "Do you want to get dressed or go in your pajamas?"

"Pajamas!" Louis tugs at Harry's hand. "You too."

"Me too? Okay." Harry shoos him out of the bathroom so he can take his turn at a wee and brushing his teeth. He stays in his sleep clothes, but puts on shoes, and texts for security to escort them to breakfast.

Louis skips along with one hand in Harry's and one gripping Archie. He pulls Harry along when they approach the lift so he can get to it first and hit the button. He turns a triumphant smile up at Harry.

This time, Harry doesn't have anything else in his hands, so he's the one to pick Louis up in the lift so he can hit the button for the second floor, where the meeting rooms are. Harry makes sure to take Louis's hand when he sets him down again so he can't go rushing out of the lift ahead of security.

Preston precedes them out and leads them down the hall to where there's a room with breakfast and tables set up. Louis lets go of Harry's hand and rushes over to Liam.

"Liam, we built a fort and Zayn said it was nicer than the Batcave and I got to sleep in it!"

Harry leaves Liam to blink at that influx of information and makes up plates for himself and Louis, along with a cup of tea and a cup of milky tea.

"Of _course_ Archie was in the fort with us," Louis says to Liam as Harry brings their breakfast over.

"Oh, of course," Liam says with a solemn nod. "You wouldn't want to leave him out."

There aren't any booster seats, so when Louis shifts from Liam's lap to a chair of his own, he ends up sitting on his knees to reach the table. He frowns down at his milky tea. "This isn't coffee."

"No," Harry agrees. He nudges Louis's plate toward him. "I got you bacon."

"I want coffee," Louis pouts.

The pout is hard to resist, but Harry makes the effort; he's certainly not giving caffeine to an already active three-year-old. "I know you do," he says, "but I got you tea and bacon."

Louis heaves a heavy sigh, and then, using that as a distraction, swipes Liam's coffee cup and takes a drink before either of them can stop him. He swallows, and then his lip trembles. He pushes the cup away. "It's yucky!" He sounds so betrayed that Harry would laugh if Louis weren't also on the verge of tears.

Harry scoops him up and pulls him onto his lap. "Coffee's more of a grown-up drink."

"No," Louis says. "I want some that's good!" He starts crying, slow tears that Harry needs to deal with before they turn into a temper tantrum.

"I'm sorry, love," Harry says, stroking Louis's hair. "That's what coffee tastes like."

"My mouth tastes yucky," Louis sobs.

Harry kisses the top of his head and picks up Louis's cup of milky tea. "Here, love."

"Uh-uh, yucky." Louis buries his face in Harry's shirt.

"It's tea," Harry says. "I made it for you, like last night."

"I wanted coffee," Louis sniffles.

"I know," Harry says. "Drink your tea. It'll make your mouth taste better."

Louis wraps his hands around Harry's on the cup. He sniffles suspiciously before tipping it up to drink from it. He takes only a tiny sip, and considers it before he takes another, larger drink.

"Better?" Harry asks.

Louis nods and leans against Harry's chest. He lets go of the cup, so it's a good thing Harry's still holding it. "I want bacon."

Louis clings to Harry's shirt when he tries to put him back on his own chair, so Harry gives that up as a lost cause and pulls Louis's plate over to him instead.

A rasher of bacon later and Louis is perfectly happy, smiling around his breakfast and scolding Liam for drinking "yucky coffee."

"It wasn't your coffee," Liam says. He's surprisingly calm about Louis's temper tantrums; Harry would have guessed he'd feel bad about this one. Maybe it's because he's so used to dealing with Louis in a strop. "If you steal other people's drinks, you can't complain when you don't like them."

Louis makes a face at him and huffs out his annoyance. "Archie would never drink anything yucky. Right Archie?"

"Don't tell him what dinosaurs ate," Harry says while Louis carries on a one-sided conversation with the T-Rex.

Liam laughs, which causes Louis to look up. "What?"

"Nothing," Liam says with a shake of his head. "Can I see your fort after breakfast?"

"Yes!" Louis says. "It's got blanket walls, and a whole bunch of pillows, and we slept in it!"

"Yeah," Liam says, patient even though Louis already told him all about the fort. "I really want to see it, but you have to finish your breakfast first." He reaches across the table, slow and obvious. "Unless you don't want it. I could eat more bacon."

"No!" Louis tugs his plate closer - it takes a swift grab on Harry's part to keep him from dumping it on the floor - snatches up one of the remaining rashers, and stuffs as much of it in his mouth as he can fit. "'S mine."

Liam laughs and sits back with his coffee. "You eat it then."

"I will." Louis takes another large, defiant bite of his bacon.

Harry kisses the top of his head. "No one's going to take it from you, love."

Louis snuggles trustingly against him and eats at a more moderate pace. Harry has never so appreciated the ability of parents who eat with an active toddler on their laps; it's not easy. It takes a few quick saves to keep from dripping his breakfast on Louis on top of what Louis's spilling on himself.

"You need a bath," Harry says when they're done eating and he's cleaning Louis's face and hands well enough that he can pick up Archie and get to their room without making more of a mess.

"No bath," Louis says. He grabs Archie, slides down to the floor, and goes around the table to Liam. "Come see my fort!"

Liam gulps down the end of his coffee, sets down the cup, and lets Louis pull him along. Harry takes the end of his tea and his uneaten banana with him so he doesn't get left behind.

Louis gets Liam to pick him up to push the button in the lift, and then bounces impatiently until they reach their floor and he can pull Liam toward his and Harry's room.

Harry keeps up with them so he can unlock the door when they get there, Louis almost jumping up and down with his impatience to show Liam the fort.

The moment Harry starts to push the door open, Louis tugs Liam into the room. He stops just before the fort and waves his arm out. "Look!"

"I see it," Liam says. "That's a pretty big fort. Can I come in?"

"Yeah," Louis says. "That's the whole point."

Harry stifles a laugh while Liam goes into the fort with Louis.

"It's like a superhero hideout," Liam says.

"But cosier," Louis says. "Zayn said so."

Harry listens to Louis point out all the features of the fort while he digs through their bags to find clothes for the day. He trusts Liam to keep an eye on Louis for a few minutes - if they get into trouble, he has no doubt it'll be Louis talking Liam into it, but Liam's sensible enough not to let him get into any sort of dangerous trouble when he's like this - so he ducks into a shower. He puts on jeans after, but leaves his shirt off; it'll only get wet when he gets Louis into the bath.

He leaves a towel around his shoulders for his hair to drip onto and joins Liam and Louis in the fort.

"And then Batman goes like this," Louis is saying to Liam. He swings his arm in an inexpert punch. "And The Joker goes like this." He jerks his head back, and the angle means he sees Harry.

He turns all the way around, smiling at Harry like he's delighted to see him. "Harry, I'm telling Liam about Batman."

"Are you?" Harry sits down on the floor of the fort. "Is he a good storyteller?"

"Course I am!" Louis says, clearly affronted that Harry would imply anything else. He climbs into Harry's lap and puts his tiny hands on Harry's cheeks, looking at him seriously. "I'm better'n you."

Harry laughs. "I'm sure you are, love."

Louis nods firmly and sits down on Harry's lap to keep telling Liam about Batman. There is roughly zero chance that Liam hasn't read the books Zayn brought with him last night. He still keeps up an interested series of questions as he listens to Louis tell him about it.

Liam calls for a pause when his phone buzzes, and he pulls it out to check it. "Zayn found a comic shop for us to go to. Do you want to come?"

Louis leans forward. "Yes!"

Harry smooths Louis's hair back. "You have to be big if you're going to go."

"Oh." Louis hesitates. Then he slumps back against Harry and shakes his head. "No." He turns his head against Harry's chest. "Don't wanna."

"We can stay here," Harry assures him. "We've got the fort and everything."

"And Archie," Louis says.

"And Archie," Harry agrees. "We can have some fun of our own."

"Okay." Louis sits up. "Bring me a present," he demands of Liam.

Liam laughs. "Maybe, if I see something for you."

Louis crosses his arms over his chest and pouts. "I want a present."

Liam leans over to kiss the top of Louis's head. "We'll look."

Harry lets him walk himself out while he has a bit of a cuddle with Louis. "You sure you're okay staying here?"

"Uh-huh. Don't want to be big. 'N you're my favorite." Louis turns a sweet smile up at Harry.

Harry kisses his nose, making him giggle. "You're mine too."

Harry lets Louis just cuddle up to him for a bit before he broaches the topic of a bath.

"Noo," Louis says. "I don't need a bath."

Harry snuggles him close and kisses his temple. "Yes, you do." He pulls out his phone. "How about we see if Niall can come see the fort after your bath?"

Louis brightens up. "Niall needs to see the fort. Can he come right now?"

Harry texts Niall to see what he's up to for the day. Niall texts back to say that he doesn't have any plans and he'll come by to hang out with them.

Louis can't read his screen right now, so Harry tells Niall to come in a little bit and tells Louis, "Niall says he'll come after you take a bath."

"Harry," Louis complains with a sigh. When Harry doesn't budge, he jumps up and grabs Harry's hand. "Bath now so Niall can come play."

Harry was a little too optimistic about his chances of staying dry with three-year-old Louis in a bathtub and has to change his jeans for dry ones afterwards. Louis also insists on jeans, rather than the trackies Harry laid out for him, and a white t-shirt just like Harry's.

Harry chooses to take the wish to match as a compliment and lets himself feel the full pleasure of it. He texts Niall as soon as they're both dressed again, no shoes or socks for either of them, and smiles at the way Louis takes Archie to the door to wait for Niall.

Louis yells, "Niall!" when Niall knocks.

"Tommo!" Niall yells back.

Louis grabs for the door handle. It's a little bit of a stretch, and the door is heavy. He gets it open because Niall pushes from the outside.

"Niall!"

"Tommo!" Niall grins down at Louis. He has his guitar case in one hand. "Where's your fort?"

"This way!" Louis grabs Niall's free hand. "Bring your guitar."

"I wasn't going to leave it out here with Harry."

Louis giggles, and Harry makes a mildly protesting, "Hey."

Niall grins at him before ducking into the fort with Louis.

Harry has heard Louis's tour of the fort several times now, not to mention that he was there for the building of it. He packs their things up and checks his phone while Louis gives the same tour to Niall.

"You play," Louis says when he's shown off the fort, and then, on the heels of that, "No, you show me how to play."

Harry joins them in the tent as Niall pulls Louis onto his lap and then holds the guitar in front of both of them.

Niall guides Louis to put his hands on the strings. "If you strum them, it makes the noise."

Louis tries it, and he makes a face like he's uncertain how to feel about it. "I don't like touching it."

"Guitar strings are made of metal," Harry says. "That's why they feel rough on your fingers."

Louis's lip trembles, and he holds out his hands. "Don't like it."

Harry leans forward and takes his hands to kiss his fingertips. "There, all better."

Louis wavers, on the edge of either crying or being mollified.

"I've got some picks," Niall says. He leans over to grab one from the open guitar case and hands it to Louis. "You can pluck the strings with that, and it's nice and smooth."

Louis's much happier with that, and he gleefully plucks away at the guitar strings, making a noise that isn't exactly music.

Niall's very patient with him, doing the fingering on the frets so Louis can play some simple chords by strumming when Niall tells him to.

Harry plays the delighted audience, clapping enthusiastically and getting out his phone to wave in the air like people do at their shows.

They manage a few verses at what Harry judges is the limit of Louis's ability to sit still. While Harry applauds wildly, Louis wriggles out of Niall's lap and flings himself at Harry.

"I played a song!"

"You did." Harry wraps his arms around Louis and kisses his cheeks. "It was great."

Louis beams at him, soaking up the praise, then stands and turns back to Niall. "Niall, it's time to dance!" He holds out his arms. "You have to spin me."

Niall looks around the fort. "Don't think there's enough space for that here, mate." He carefully puts his guitar into its case and takes Louis's hand to lead him out of the fort.

Harry follows them out and is there to see Niall try to twirl Louis without either of them running into the walls or the beds.

Niall laughs at the attempt and tugs at Louis's hand to keep him from hitting the bed. "Not enough room here."

Though he's hesitant to mention it, Harry says, "We could take down the fort. You'd have lots of dancing space then."

It's one of those moments when Louis wavers, then decides not to get upset about it. "Can I smash it down?"

"Soon as we get Archie and Niall's guitar out of it," Harry says.

They do that in short order, and then Louis makes a roaring noise and stomps on the edges of the blanket walls. He uses his arms too and keeps roaring as he pulls the blankets down.

Niall laughs. "You're a fierce dragon, Tommo."

Louis stops pulling the fort down to put his hands on his hips and say, clearly affronted, "I'm not a dragon! I'm a dinosaur!"

Niall holds up his hands. "Alright, Tommo. You're a fierce dinosaur."

Louis nods decisively and pulls down the rest of the fort.

Harry has to keep a couple of the chairs from falling down on Louis, and he and Niall do the heavy lifting of moving the furniture out of the way while Louis shoves the blankets and pillows into the space between the beds.

It leaves them a wide space for dancing, and Harry cues up a playlist for them. "Only good things for dancing," he promises Louis at his skeptical look.

"We can dance to anything," Niall says. He takes Louis's hands and waltzes him around the clear space before spinning him.

Louis giggles, and makes him do it again and again.

"What about me?" Harry asks.

"You're my favorite," Louis says, "but Niall dances better."

Niall laughs so hard he has to bend over and put his hands on his knees.

Harry takes Louis's hands. "One twirl," he says.

He really isn't as good a dancer as Niall, but he can take Louis partway around the clear space and then twirl him under his arm.

"That was one," Louis says. "I want to dance with Niall now." He pats Harry's hand. "I still love you."

Harry can't help but melt at that, and he bends over to kiss Louis's temple. "I still love you too."

 

**Wednesday**

Harry's phone buzzes when it feels like he's just gotten to sleep. He ignores it. It stops, and then starts again. He just got to sleep!

But something isn't right, beyond his phone buzzing too late. Or too early. Something. He blinks himself awake to figure out what it is: he's alone in his bunk.

That wakes him up. He's alone, because when they got onto the buses after the show and Harry tried to bring Louis with him, Louis said, "No. I go on my bus. You go on your bus," as firm and implacable as a three-year-old could be.

It had stung, but Harry tried not to show it. He hugged Louis, kissed his cheek, and told him to call if he needed anything. And now Harry's phone is ringing.

His phone says it's 3:17am, and it's Zayn calling.

"Hello." Just because it's the middle of the night doesn't mean Harry can't be polite.

Zayn says, "Hazza," and then there's the sound of yelling in the background. Happy yelling, that gets louder and then quieter, like Louis just went past the phone.

"He won't go to sleep," Zayn says. "And he won't be quiet so I can go to sleep."

Harry has seen Zayn sleep through any number of things he wouldn't think someone could sleep through. Harry can still hear Louis in the background.

"Let me talk to him," Harry says.

"Lou," Zayn calls. "Harry's on the phone for you."

Louis's yell of, "Harry," gets louder as he gets closer to the phone. Then he's there and he says, "Harry, Harry, I'm the best runner."

"I'll bet you are," Harry says. "I'll bet all that running has made you tired."

"Nope!" Louis says cheerfully. "Not tired at all."

It might be true; he did take a solid nap after dancing with Niall. Still, it's so late that it's technically morning, and they have things to do tomorrow. "How about if I sing to you now?"

"It's not singing time," Louis says like he's explaining something obvious. "It's time to run." There's a thump, like maybe he dropped the phone, and then the yelling starts up again.

"Harry," Zayn says flatly.

"Did Liam try?" Harry asks, because Liam seems well able to handle three-year-old Louis.

"He's asleep," Zayn says. It's almost a growl.

Harry rubs his hands over his eyes and pulls open the curtain to his bunk. "I'll see if we can stop and I'll take him."

It takes a little bit of convincing, and a little bit of time to find somewhere they can stop, but they pull into a petrol station, the two buses one behind the other. Harry puts on his shoes to go over to the other bus.

Louis's even louder in person, and there are dark circles forming under Zayn's eyes.

Louis runs up to Harry with a gleeful yell and wraps his arms around Harry's legs. "Harry, you're here!"

"I am here." Harry runs his hand over Louis's hair. "How about you come over to the other bus and we let Zayn sleep?"

"Uh-uh. This is _my_ bus."

Harry looks at Zayn.

"I just want to sleep," Zayn says.

Harry sighs. "Go take my bunk. I'll stay."

Zayn pats him on the shoulder as he slumps past Harry and off the bus.

"You're staying!" Louis jumps up and down. "Watch me run, Harry, I'm the best." He turns around, facing the other end of the bus, then turns his head. "Are you watching?"

"I'm watching," Harry reassures him.

Louis runs, with a happy, wordless yell, down the hallway between the bunks, all the way to the sofa at the back of the lounge. He touches the sofa, turns around, and runs back to Harry.

"Harry, did you see? I ran fast!"

Harry's exhausted and really wants to be asleep, but he can't help smiling at how excited Louis is. "I saw. You ran really fast."

"I'm gonna do it again," Louis says, determined set to his jaw.

He does it again. And again. And again. And again.

After the third time, Harry sits down on the floor at the front of the bus and high-fives Louis every time he comes back. It's sort of meditative, sitting there tired not doing anything but watching Louis run up and down. Loud, but meditative.

Louis slows down after a while, and collapses into Harry's lap, grinning and breathing hard. "Did you see?"

"I saw." Harry wraps his arms around Louis for a cuddle. "You're a good runner."

"I'm the best runner," Louis says. He smiles sunnily up at Harry, and then relaxes against him. "It could be singing time now."

"Should we go have a cuddle in your bunk for singing time?" Harry asks.

"That would be okay," Louis allows. "I gotta get Archie first, 'n' pajamas. Dinosaur ones." He tumbles out of Harry's lap and heads for the lounge at a much more moderate pace than before.

Harry tucks his shoes out of the way and digs through Louis's bag to find some dinosaur pajamas. They have a repeating pattern of bright colored T-Rexes.

"'S like they got lotsa Archies," Louis says when he sees them.

"Lots and lots of Archies," Harry says. He helps Louis change into the pajamas. "Do you need a wee?"

"Uh-huh," Louis says after considering it. He consents to leave Archie in his bunk while they're in the loo, and rushes to assure the soft toy, "I didn't forget you, Archie," after.

Harry lifts Louis up into his bunk to join Archie and climbs in after him, putting himself on the outside of the bunk.

"Singing time, singing time," Louis sings to himself, or perhaps to Archie.

It's adorable, and Harry finds that he doesn't mind being awake in the middle of the night so much when it means he gets to have this moment, and the one that follows when Louis cuddles Archie close and snuggles up against Harry.

Louis yawns. "You sing now."

Harry sings "What Makes You Beautiful," because it's the first thing he can think of and he can sing all of it when he's desperate for sleep.

Louis says, "'Nother one," when Harry gets to the end of it, his eyes closed and his words barely mumbled.

The next thing Harry thinks of is "Live While We're Young," which isn't really a bedtime song, but he sings it softly enough to turn it into something of a lullaby, and Louis falls asleep before he gets to the end of it.

They have to be up too early, especially for how late they were up, but at least Louis's an adult so Harry only has to focus on getting himself up and ready for morning interviews.

"Why'd you let me stay up so late?" Louis asks when Harry's alarm wakes them up.

"What makes you think I could have stopped you?" Harry drops a kiss on the top of Louis's head. There was a time when that wouldn't have been strange, or when Louis would have been the one leaving kisses on him. But they don't do that now, except that Louis's been a toddler for most of the week and Harry's gotten in the habit.

Louis sighs and leans into it for a moment, then gently pushes at Harry. "Lemme out."

Harry rolls out of the bunk and stretches before finding his shoes and heading back to his own bus.

They have interviews in the morning, and a photo shoot. On the way from the photo shoot to the hotel they're staying at for the night, Harry sits next to Louis and slumps down to put his head on Louis's shoulder.

Louis wraps his arm around Harry's shoulders. It's nice. Harry relaxes a little more and puts his arm around Louis's waist. Louis scratches his fingers through Harry's hair, and that's even better.

Harry falls asleep, and wakes up with Louis already scrambling out of the car. By the time Harry makes it inside, Louis's a toddler again, wearing only his now very large t-shirt with a long-suffering Paul picking up the rest of his clothes from the floor.

Paul hands the clothes to Harry with an expression that clearly says, _This is your problem now._

Harry grins back at him and says, "Lou, you want some other clothes?"

Louis shakes his head. "No! I want lunch. And Archie." He pauses. "But lunch first."

"Is there lunch?" Harry asks Paul.

"This way." Paul escorts them to the room where lunch is set up and gives Harry his room key. "Archie's in your room with the rest of your things." He says it with a smile because he's a big softie at heart.

"Thank you," Harry says. He nudges Louis's shoulder. "What do you say?"

"Thank you," Louis says distractedly. He tugs at Harry's shirt. "C'n I have a fish finger sanich?"

"Let's see what there is," Harry says.

Louis races forward to the food, ducking between people and standing up on his tiptoes to see what's on the tables.

"Here," Liam says, holding out a carrot stick.

"Liam," Louis protests, dragging out all the vowels.

"You don't want to eat crunchy things like T-Rexes? I heard you were a fierce dinosaur."

"I am a fierce dinosaur!" Louis roars and bites down on the carrot stick in Liam's hand with a loud crunch. He takes the rest of the carrot from Liam and crunches his way through it while Harry makes him a fish finger sandwich and adds a few more carrot sticks to the plate.

Someone thought to get a booster seat, so Harry lifts Louis up into it after he sets their plates down.

Louis says, "Harry, I'm a fierce dinosaur," and crunches down on another carrot stick.

"You're a very fierce dinosaur," Harry agrees.

Liam winks at him across the table, and Harry grins back.

Louis chomps through all of the carrots before he picks up his sandwich. "Did dinosaurs eat fish?"

Harry blinks. "I don't know."

"I reckon they did," Liam says. "If there were fish around then."

"Fish have been around forever," Zayn says. "Dinosaurs had to eat them."

"Look at this." Niall holds out his phone. "This ate fish, and it's like the T-Rex."

Harry leans over to join Louis in looking at a drawing of something called a Baryonyx that ate fish and does look a little like a T-Rex. "It was found in Surrey."

Louis gasps. "It's from England. Like me!"

"It is," Harry says. "And it ate fish, just like you."

Louis takes a decisive bite of his fish finger sandwich. Then he turns a worried look on Harry. "D'you think Archie will still love me if I'm not a T-Rex like him?"

Harry puts his arm around Louis, bringing him in for a cuddle, and kisses the top of his head. "I think Archie will love you no matter what, just like all of us."

Harry shares a concerned look with the other boys when Louis turns his face into Harry's chest and clings to him for a minute.

Louis pulls back with a sniffle and says, "I need more carrots so I can be a fierce dinosaur."

"I'll get them," Liam says. He flashes Louis a smile. "All part of being your sidekick."

"Can I be your sidekick too?" Niall asks.

"Uh-uh. Only Liam." Louis turns his sandwich in his hands. "You're my dance partner." He punctuates the sentiment by choosing a place to bite into his sandwich.

Liam brings back a plate with a small handful of carrot sticks. Louis shifts his sandwich to one hand and picks up a carrot stick with the other. He alternates between them, crunching the carrot sticks loudly.

When his sandwich is gone, Zayn slides a piece of paper over to him. It's a sketch, done in Sharpie on the back of a schedule printout, that shows a pair of dinosaurs. One is modeled on Archie. The other looks more like a Baryonyx but is clearly Louis. That one has a fish in its mouth. Zayn's drawn them so that they're holding hands.

" _Zayn_ ," Louis gasps. "You're the bestest." He scrambles out of his chair - Harry helps him so he doesn't fall - and runs around the table to hug Zayn.

Zayn picks him up for the hug and ruffles his hair. "It's so you never forget that Archie'll love you no matter what."

Louis cuddles against Zayn. "Thank you." He wriggles to be put down and runs around the table to peer up at Harry. "C'n we go show Archie?"

"As soon as I finish eating," Harry promises. "Do you want another carrot stick?"

"Maybe one," Louis says. He holds up his arms.

Harry pulls him up onto his lap and lets him sit there while he loudly crunches on two more carrot sticks and Harry finishes his lunch. As soon as Harry's done, Louis slides down to the floor and reaches up to grab the drawing off the table.

Louis holds the sketch in a tight grip that wrinkles one of the corners. Harry takes his other hand so he can't go haring off on his own; he's already trying to go as fast as he can.

Harry makes sure they have security with them before the leave the room. Preston takes them up and walks them to their room. Harry has to fumble through his pockets for the key Paul gave him.

Louis jumps from one foot to the other and says, "Hurry up."

"Be patient," Harry says. He gets the door open and lets Louis run in. Archie is sitting on one of the beds, leaning up against the pillows.

Louis stretches, but can't reach Archie. "Harry, I gotta get to Archie."

Harry lifts him up onto the bed, where he plops himself down next to Archie. He puts an arm around the T-Rex and holds up the drawing.

"Look, Archie. Harry said you'll love me even if I'm not the same as you, and Zayn drew us so I would 'member."

It's adorable, but also a little bit concerning.

Harry sits down on Louis's other side and puts an arm around him. "You know we'll always love you too. And everyone who works with us and your mum and all your sisters."

Louis leans against Harry. "That's a lot of people."

"Lots and lots of people." Harry kisses the top of Louis's head.

"'Kay." Louis snuggles closer, half lying on Harry. He blinks slowly, like he's having trouble keeping his eyes open.

Harry shifts so he can tuck them under the blankets. For once, Louis doesn't protest at the clear signal of impending nap time; he leans into Harry, still clinging to Archie and the sketch, and keeps blinking slowly.

Once he's asleep, Harry gently takes the drawing out of his hand and puts it on the nightstand so it won't get damaged while they're napping.

After the early start to his day, Harry is very pleased to get in a nap, and he's hoping for a long one. He didn't figure in the energy levels of an active toddler.

Louis wakes him up before he'd really like to be awake by poking his cheek. "Harry. Harry. Wake up."

"What is it?" Harry asks without opening his eyes. He loves Louis, absolutely adores him. He also has not gotten anywhere near enough sleep in the last twenty-four hours.

"I hafta wee," Louis says. "I don't want to wear this shirt anymore."

Harry gives up on the dream of more sleep and helps Louis to the loo. He splashes water on his face to wake himself up while he lets Louis pick out his clothes. He's going to have to be awake in a while anyway.

"I want to race," Louis says. "C'n we race in the corr'dor?"

"You didn't get enough running last night?"

Louis looks at him blankly. "No." He grabs Harry's hand. "C'mon."

Harry makes sure he has their key before he lets Louis pull him out into the corridor. It's a long corridor. Someone a handful of rooms to their right has left a room service tray out.

"Let's leave Archie by our door," Harry says, "so we know where to come back to, and we'll race to the tray."

Louis eyes the corridor suspiciously before kissing Archie and putting him down next to the door. "We're gonna come back for you," he promises.

Once he has Archie settled, Louis joins Harry in the middle of the corridor. He stands next to Harry and starts running as he says, "One, two, three, go!"

Harry stifles his laugh and goes along with him. Louis is small enough that he can keep up easily, but he stays just behind Louis. Louis grins at him, and they reset at the tray. Louis counts them in again, starts running as he does, and they run back to Archie.

They go back and forth over and over again. They're near Archie, getting ready to go again, when the lift dings as it arrives at their floor. Harry turns his head to look, and then nudges Louis's shoulder before he can count them into running again.

"Lou, look who it is."

Louis turns around, and his whole face lights up. "Mummy!" He races down the corridor to her.

Jay lets go of her bag and scoops Louis up into her arms. "Boo Bear." She leaves kisses all over his face. "Have you been having fun?"

"Uh-huh. We're racing and we built a blanket fort and played footie and I'm a fierce dinosaur like Archie and Zayn drew me a picture."

"Wow, all of that." She shifts her attention from Louis to Harry for a moment. "Hi, love."

"Hi." Harry leans in to hug her, and he takes her bag. "Did Paul give you a key?"

She pulls it out of somewhere. "Right here." She nuzzles Louis's cheek. "You ready to stay with me tonight?"

"Yeah," Louis says. He lets out a contented sigh and leans his head on her shoulder. "We gotta get Archie."

They walk back to what's now going to be just Harry's room to retrieve Archie and the rest of Louis's things. Harry walks Jay down to her room so he can help carry everything.

"Thank you, love," Jay says. She sets Louis down and gives Harry a proper hug. "Thank you for taking care of him."

Harry nods. "Of course." He crouches down to give Louis a hug. "Have fun with your mum."

Louis presses a sloppy kiss to his cheek. "I will."

It's very quiet once Harry's left them in their room. The corridor is quiet, the thick carpet absorbing any sound, and his room is deafeningly silent. He's going to be able to sleep the night through without any worry about toddler interruption, but he already misses Louis.

 

**Thursday**

Harry goes with Liam to do a radio interview in the morning. They come back to the hotel for a late breakfast, and then Harry goes back to bed for an uninterrupted nap. He orders room service for lunch, and is thinking about taking another nap when Louis texts to see if he can come over.

Harry texts back a yes and gets up to open the door. "Thought you'd be with your mum."

"She's napping." Louis has on a hoodie that might belong to someone else; the sleeves are too long and he twists his hands inside them. "You going to offer me a cuppa?"

That means Louis's going to stay for at least a bit. Harry smiles at him. "Course."

He makes them both cups of tea. "You want a cuddle too?" he asks when he hands Louis his cup.

Louis smiles down into his cup. "Yeah."

They settle onto the bed, the pillows up against the headboard behind them, legs stretched out in front of them, Louis leaning against Harry's shoulder, and drink their tea in comfortable silence.

"You make the best tea," Louis says.

Harry puts his arm around Louis's shoulders. "I missed you."

"It hasn't even been a day."

"No," Harry says. "I mean, yeah, that too, but I meant before that. Before this week. I missed you."

Louis turns his cup back and forth in his hands. "Yeah, yeah," he says after a minute. "I missed you too." He taps his fingers against the cup. "This week, it's a thing, when I'm nervous or something."

Harry frowns. "But we've been doing this for years."

Louis shakes his head. "Not about performing." He gulps down the end of his tea and puts the cup down on the nightstand with a decisive clunk. "I told my mum I'm in love with you."

Harry's heart feels like it stops beating, and he can't breathe. He'd think he heard it wrong, but Louis said it clearly and calmly. It's a shock. The best kind of shock.

Louis shrinks back. "Fuck," he mutters.

That makes Harry get over his shock. He fumbles his cup onto the nightstand so he doesn't risk spilling tea or breaking it over them. Then he launches himself at Louis.

It's inelegant and messy, and he nearly knocks them both off the bed. "I love you," Harry blurts out.

He kisses Louis. That's a mess too, because Louis's surprised and they're not lined up right and Harry's too eager. Their teeth clack together.

Louis snorts, and Harry adjusts to show him they can do it better. It is better, their mouths lined up just right. Louis's lips are soft under his, and responsive too. They share the kiss, and when they pull apart, Louis says, "Really?"

Harry nods. "Yes. I love you so much. That's why this week was so good. We got to be together again." He takes Louis's hand.

Louis looks at their intertwined fingers. "It's not weird cause I was a three-year-old yesterday?"

Harry rakes his eyes down Louis's body, obvious about eyeing him up, and squeezes Louis's thigh with his free hand. "You're not three now."

Louis's mouth curves up in a closed-mouth smile. "Move."

Harry frowns. "What?"

"Move." Louis pushes him around so they can lie down, Harry on top of him, without falling halfway off the bed.

Harry kisses him again, and he rolls his hips down against Louis's. There's no aphrodisiac quite like having the person he loves telling him he loves him too; Harry's halfway to hard. He can tell, because years of cuddling and wrestling and being close mean he knows Louis's body, that Louis's getting there too.

"Definitely not a three-year-old," Harry says with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Louis lets out a groan that's half a laugh. "Don't talk about me being three if you want me to touch your dick."

"I want you to touch my dick," Harry says immediately. He doesn't make space for it, though, because first he has to kiss Louis again. He gets to, and they love each other, and he's almost too giddy to manage to do anything but be happy. Almost. Because he also has Louis in his arms and kissing him back, and that's even better than just being happy.

"Harry," Louis says. "Fucking hell, I wanted this." His hands grip tight against Harry's back, holding him as close as Harry's holding him.

"Me too." Harry kisses him again and again. "I love you, and I want you, and I don't want to have to miss you like I did before."

Louis puts his hands on Harry's face, holding him still and looking him right in the eyes. "You won't. I don't let go of the people I love."

Harry gets that feeling about Louis again, the one where he doesn't think his body can contain that much love. He turns his head and kisses Louis's palm, smiling into it.

Louis tugs at his hair. "Enough mushy stuff. Touch my dick." He smirks up at Harry.

Harry both rolls his hips down against Louis's, too turned on by Louis talking about touching his dick not to, and laughs. "I thought you were going to touch mine." He strips off his shirt and pushes his hands up Louis's to touch his skin.

"Either way." Louis tugs at the hem of his shirt, pushing Harry away so he can get it off without having to move much. "Sex, Harold, get to it."

Harry laughs again. "I love you." He kisses Louis, even better with their shirts off and their skin pressing together. He also rolls his hips, rubbing them together. It's not how he wants to get off, but it's nice foreplay.

Really nice when Louis spreads his legs around Harry's hips, making just the right space for Harry to rub their dicks together. Even better when Louis gasps and tips his head back so Harry can kiss his neck. He opens his mouth and licks up Louis's neck, tasting the salt of his skin.

"I'm giving you a lovebite," Harry says before attaching his mouth to Louis's neck, above the collar.

Louis groans, a good sound. "We're going to get in so much trouble." He keeps his head tilted just right for Harry to work on his neck. He's panting, chest puffing up against Harry's with every breath. He whines when Harry lets up.

Harry keeps going, kissing Louis's collarbones. Biting them a little bit because they're there and he loves the way they stick out. Loves everything about Louis.

"Harry," Louis says. His voice is thick with arousal, like his dick.

"Yeah," Harry says. He looks up, getting a good look at Louis's eyes dark and hungry, at his lips as red as Harry's ever seen them. "You're so fit," he blurts out.

Louis grips Harry's shoulders, his fingers digging in. "My turn. Let me." He tugs at Harry's shoulders. Harry's used to doing what Louis wants, especially after the last week. He goes with it and lets Louis tug him up and over him so Louis can put his mouth over Harry's nipple.

People have played with Harry's nipples before, licked and bit and sucked them. It's never felt like this. But then nothing has ever felt like this. He's loved some of the people he's done this with before, but he's never loved someone the way he loves Louis.

Harry moans, and his dick gets harder, so hard. He's rubbing it against Louis, his stomach more than anything now, and that's not getting any friction for Louis.

"I want," Harry manages.

Louis's hands move down, to the waistband of Harry's jeans. "Have to take these off if you want me to touch your dick."

Harry's always in favor of being naked; he shucks his jeans and pants. Then he does the same to Louis. He settles back down on top of Louis. This time their cocks, both hard, nestle together between them.

"Fucking hell," Louis mutters. He rocks up into Harry, rubbing them together in a way that threatens to make Harry see stars.

Harry licks the words out of Louis's mouth. It's almost too much, to be skin to skin all the way down their bodies, to be so full of love, to have Louis's mouth opening for him. He has to stop and rest his forehead against Louis's, just breathing into each other's mouths for a moment.

"Harry?" Louis asks. He runs his hand through Harry's hair. "Alright?"

Harry picks his head up and looks deep into Louis's eyes. "I love you so much." He can barely breathe with how much he loves him.

"I love you too," Louis says. The corner of his eyes crinkle up with a smile. "Want me to touch your dick now?"

Harry lets out an unplanned giggle. "Yeah, but first." He slides down, kissing Louis's collarbones again, and his nipples. "I want to make you feel good. Can I suck you?"

Louis takes in a sharp breath. "Yeah, yeah."

Harry nips at Louis's stomach, the slightest curve of it. Then he looks up at Louis while he puts his mouth on Louis's hip. He wants to leave another lovebite there, but he'll stop if Louis doesn't want it.

"Fuck," Louis says. "Fuck, Harry, please."

Harry would smile if his mouth weren't busy. He has to use his hands to hold Louis's hips down because he's trying to twist against the bed. It's the hottest thing Harry's ever seen.

When he's satisfied that he's left enough of a mark, he turns his attention to Louis's cock, and, actually, that's the hottest thing he's ever seen. It's hard. It's hard for him and curving up and getting wet at the tip where his foreskin is pulling back.

Harry tastes that first, flicking his tongue against the tip of Louis's dick. It's a little salty, a little bitter, and now he knows what Louis tastes like. It's too much to resist, and he takes Louis's cock into his mouth.

Louis gasps out Harry's name, and he sounds as turned on and full to bursting with how this is making him feel as Harry is.

Harry makes an acknowledging noise around his cock that makes Louis moan. He thinks he'll have to remember that for the next time he does this, and then that makes his chest fill with happiness again to think that he'll get to do this again.

Then he stops thinking about the future and thinks only about the here and now, about Louis's cock filling up his mouth in the best way, about how he just wants to make Louis feel good.

He hasn't done this a lot, but he has enough practice that he knows he can make it good for Louis. He softens his mouth around Louis's cock, letting it fill up with saliva so he can make it nice and wet. Then he tightens it again and sucks.

Louis moans. His hands come down into Harry's hair, and he pulls, not too hard, just right.

Harry moans around Louis's cock, which makes him pull Harry's hair again, and it's just about perfect.

Harry puts his hands under Louis, getting them on Louis's bum. It's one of the best bums he's ever seen, and he very much wants to touch it while they're doing this. He also wants to encourage Louis to take what he wants. He pulls Louis up into his mouth once, twice.

"Fuck, love," Louis says. "Fuck, can I?"

Harry hums his agreement around Louis's cock.

Louis thrusts up into his mouth, gentle at first while Harry gets himself in the right place for it. He can feel the tensing and releasing of Louis's muscles under his hands as he does it.

Harry holds up his hand and gives Louis a thumbs-up when he's settled where he'll be fine when Louis thrusts harder.

Louis splutters out a laugh.

Harry grins around his cock, looking up so he can see Louis seeing the smile on his face.

Louis grins back, and then his amusement turns back into desire. He thrusts up, less gentle now. His cock rubs over the roof of Harry's mouth, held between that and Harry's tongue.

Harry doesn't try to swallow, lets it be wet for Louis, lets the taste of Louis's dick spread over his tongue.

"Darling," Louis says. "Brilliant. You're amazing." He holds Harry's head in place, fingers tangled in Harry's hair, and thrusts up and up and up.

Harry swallows around Louis's dick when Louis's thrusts get faster, more frantic. He swallows and sucks and keeps his tongue tight against the bottom of Louis's cock so his mouth is as tight around it as it can be.

Louis gasps out a garbled warning that only makes Harry grip at his bum, keeping him close.

Louis pulls Harry's hair too hard when he comes, hard enough that Harry's eyes sting with the pain. It's not enough to keep him from making sure he gets to taste Louis before he swallows.

"Sorry," Louis says a moment later, smoothing down Harry's hair and pulling out of Harry's mouth. "Sorry, love."

Harry wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. He smirks up at Louis. "I know you couldn't help yourself."

"Smug fucker," Louis says with a bit of a laugh. He's breathing heavily still, his chest heaving with it.

Harry squeezes his bum. "The taste in my mouth says I have every reason to be."

Louis stops stroking Harry's hair and grabs for his shoulders instead. "Yeah, love. Come up here and kiss me."

Harry lets go of Louis's bum reluctantly and lets Louis pull him up. "I liked that," he says. "Liked it a lot." He rubs his still hard dick against Louis's hip and lets Louis lick into his mouth.

Louis breaks off kissing him with a bit of a gasp, his hands settling on Harry's hip and shoulder. "I'm too tired to try doing that for you now."

"You don't have to." They're still close, breathing and talking against each other's mouth. "I can just." Harry moves his hips, grinding his dick against Louis's hip in a way that could get him off if he keeps going.

Louis shakes his head and pushes Harry back. "I want to at least." He wraps his hand around Harry's dick.

"Yeah," Harry agrees, dazed by how good it feels to have Louis's hand on his dick while his mouth still tastes like Louis, while he can look at Louis naked and flushed.

Louis wanks him off. It's different from how Harry does it to himself, longer strokes, smaller hand, unpredictable. It's good, incredibly good, beyond the kind of good that is someone else touching his dick because it's Louis touching his dick and he loves Louis and Louis loves him.

"Fuck," Harry says. "Fuck, I love you. Love you so much."

"Yeah," Louis says, his eyes moving from Harry's face to his hand on Harry's dick and back again. "Yeah, love you too." He tightens his grip, speeds up. "Going to show me? Going to come for me?"

"Yes," Harry manages. "Yes, yes." He gasps out Louis's name.

Louis's gaze goes intent and focused, and he changes things up again, focuses on the head, on the loose skin of Harry's foreskin. Then he brings his other hand into things and having both of his hands on Harry's dick is too much, too good.

Harry shouts when he comes, spilling across Louis's hands and chest. The way that looks makes him want to do it all over again. He settles for collapsing down onto Louis and kissing him as desperately as he can while trying to catch his breath.

Louis puts his arms around Harry, his hands sticky on Harry's back, and kisses back, opening his mouth to Harry's tongue, keeping him close while they try to catch their breath between kisses.

Harry rolls over to the side after a few minutes, pulling Louis with him so they're on their sides facing each other. "I want to do that again."

"Yeah," Louis says. He runs his hand down the center of Harry's chest. "Want to learn to give you a really good blowjob. Want to find out how sensitive your nipples are." He tweaks one of the upper ones. "All four of them."

Harry grabs his hand. "Want to fuck you. Want you to fuck me."

Louis nods, a flush creeping across the top of his cheekbones. "I've never done any of this with another lad, but I want that. With you."

Harry moves closer, so they're almost nose to nose. "I want to spend time with you again." He puts his arm around Louis and pulls him close. "And cuddle. You don't have to be three to get a cuddle."

Louis cuddles in, pressing closer to Harry and tucking his head under Harry's chin. "It's not going to be easy. All the, you know." He waves his hand around before settling it back on Harry's back.

"I know." Harry tips his head down and kisses the top of Louis's head. "Don't care."

Louis's quiet for a minute. Harry rubs his hand up and down Louis's back, just like he did when he needed a cuddle when he was a three-year-old.

"I love you the most," Louis says.

Harry pulls Louis up so he can look him in the eyes. "I'm going to love you forever and ever."

Louis smiles at him, one of the ones that warm Harry up from the inside. "I'm having dinner with my mum. Do you want to come?"

Harry does, but he still asks, "Are you sure? I don't want to intrude."

Louis rolls his eyes. "You're coming." He smacks a kiss onto Harry's lips and rolls away from him, out of bed. "Have to get cleaned up first."

They do that together, unable to keep their hands off each other and dragging the process out longer than strictly necessary.

They're both flushed and giggling when they get dressed. Harry stops Louis at the door to kiss him long and slow, as happy as he's ever been.

"My mum's waiting," Louis says. "And whoever Paul's sending with us."

Harry laughs and lets Louis go.

They don't hold hands in the corridor, or when Louis knocks and then opens the door to his and his mum's room with his key.

"Harry," Jay says brightly. She squeezes Louis's arm on her way to hug Harry. "Thank you for taking care of him."

"Of course," Harry says. "I always will."

"Harry loves me too," Louis says.

They do hold hands then, with Jay beaming at them and the door between them and the outside world closed.

Harry squeezes Louis's hand. "Forever and ever."


End file.
